VW ADVENTURES

December 1, 2008
by Julia
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ENTERTAINING EATERY

We head for the recommended eatery located in the Chapter One Bookstore which is squeezed into a very small space in the back and down some stairs. Akasha Organics is an intriguing little place with East Indian items, health food, organic produce, and an interesting menu. There are only three tables and a counter with about three stools, and about that many customers. We look around, get our bearings, and check out the menu. A gentleman at the counter is conversing with one of the servers behind the counter and raving about his salad, especially the dressing. It looks yummy to us and wonder which of the menu items it is. Reading the menu, we determine which items we want to try and ask for a few clarifications before placing our order at the counter and then taking seats available at the only empty table.

Listed on the menu as Pizza Cracker Salad and Tostada, we choose two different entree salads so we can try a few different elements such as the nut pate, pesto, hummus, the tostada and the pizza cracker. It is even more intriguing when it arrives at our table. Everything is RAW, including the tostada and cracker, having been dehydrated rather than cooked (baked or fried.) It looks like a piece of art and it tastes scrumptious. We are definitely adding this little restaurant to our list of epicurean delights and worthy of a recommendation and a return visit!

Adding to our experience in this delightful eatery is a curious patron…a women of rather large physical stature wearing a variety of layers of clothing, a scarf over her head and sturdy, well worn hiking type boots…..a ‘mountain’ woman. She is speaking with a rich but quiet voice in an intense conversation with several different people at her table. Her cell phone rings and she apologizes to us suggesting the annoyance is similar to a ‘fart in public’! At times, she speaks in a different language which she explains to her companions is Shoshone. A younger man arrives dressed in camouflage, carrying a backpack, wearing a camouflage hat which when removed, exposes short hair with a bleached ‘Mohawk’ streak. In his ears are 5/8 -3/4 inch round earrings of jade (both sides of the ears the same size pieces) He gives the “Mountain Woman” a small handful of peeled twigs of some sort. She is ecstatic (in her quiet way) to receive them. She immediately takes them to a shrine by the counter for a blessing and an offering (leaving one), then offers samples to her companions to eat saying it is like bread or the ‘mana’ in the bible and they are breaking bread as Jesus did….a very different, interesting, and entertaining lady in a very different, interesting and entertaining eatery!

November 17, 2008
by Julia
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RE-DISCOVERING KETCHUM AND SUN VALLEY

RE-DISCOVERING KETCHUM AND SUN VALLEY
Ketchum has some familiar stores and streets but it, too, has morphed into a bustling community. We find a convenient parking spot in Ketchum and start walking around. We spot a sign for a Visitor Center and set off in search of it, hoping to get info on campgrounds for tonight. Once found, we load up with maps, some elegant local magazines, and other fun info of this area. Around the corner we discover a health food store, small with a nice energy and a variety of items from herbs to foods, to incense, to books, etc. The owner is friendly and chatty, so we ask her for a recommendation of a healthy restaurant and without hesitation, she states “Ananda” which is located in the Chapter One bookstore –right where we are parked! We hadn’t recognized the sign as being an eatery inside the bookstore. Not early for lunch yet, we drive out to visit Sun Valley
We aren’t sure where to go. Everything seems to be discreetly tucked in off the road. We meander through a metropolis of condos dwarfing and almost hiding the main area. Our second time around, and FINALLY we see a small sign that leads us to the parking lot for the Village at Sun Valley. Once ‘inside’, we walk around, and decide it hasn’t changed much. It has been years since we were here but it has always seemed as quiet and ‘off season’ as it does today; and always a bit elegant and high class, but not much in the way shops or eateries. We wander through the only gift shop that appears at all interesting. The grounds are lovely with colorful flowers planted along walkways and in pots and planter boxes. The weather is a perfect temp with warm sunshine and a slight breeze. We need an excuse to linger a bit longer so decide to share a cup of tea and an oatmeal cookie from the Konditorei. We enjoy sitting on their patio overlooking a pond where several swans are lazily gliding through the calm water. We are tempted to linger a while longer, but the cookie is really too sweet and we decide it is best to go back to Ketchum for lunch and some real food before heading over Galena Summit and into the Salmon River Valley.

November 13, 2008
by Julia
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CONTRASTS OF TIME

CONTRASTS OF TIME
We are up early and excited for a new day’s adventure back ‘on the road’ again after a fabulous class reunion and extended visit in Magic Valley. The morning is clear and sunny and a comfortable temperature. We drive north on Highway 93 into the mountains toward Sun Valley. The scenery is lovely with the softness of the morning over the valley and the jagged snow covered Sawtooths in the distance

We reminisce about the territory we had been familiar with so many years ago. We have forgotten how black and ominous the lava flows are. We have also forgotten about Mammoth Cave and the Shoshone Ice Caves and now wish we had scheduled time to be tourists. We aren’t really on a schedule but today we have our sights set for Sun Valley and beyond, so we pass up the caves making a note to add those to our next visit.

Dropping into the Wood River Valley and oh boy, what a change! Wow! The urbanization is obvious. Belleview is bigger than Ketchum and Hailey were 35 years ago. Hailey is unrecognizable in size and development except for the old railroad trestle that was always a landmark for us to turn off to the Gould’s ranch. That area is now full of very large homes and we probably wouldn’t be able to find anything recognizable of the old ranch any more. In contrast, it is fun to see the private aircraft at the Hailey airport and have a pretty little Gulfstream land just as we drive past.

November 7, 2008
by Julia
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Trucks and Trains and Moonlight, oh my!

The Shoshone RV Park at the Shell Station is a cute little place with a few tall trees and power and water hookups but no other facilities. It will be adequate for what we need tonight. It is for self-contained outfits. They allow us stay the night and use the station restrooms. Of course, the station is closing up in an hour, so we have to stay ‘self’ contained until they open again in the morning! The park is small with only a couple of rows of campsites and only six or so other outfits. We choose a cozy spot with tall trees in between a couple units that look ‘fulltime’. The moon is bright and we are hoping for some ‘shade’ from the trees and our neighbor’s tall RVs.

We are just south across the mainline railroad tracks that run through the middle of Shoshone. The first train blasts through sounding like it is coming right through camp! But after a few more, we tune them out. And manage to fall asleep, unaware of how many actually passed through during the night. What disturbs us more, are the semi trucks on the frontage road entering to and from the highway all night. They are even closer and a whole lot noisier than the trains!

November 4, 2008
by Julia
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Fresh Fruit and Fun Visits

Fresh Fruit and Fun Visits
This morning we have a rendezvous with Annie Lou and Jack at the old Depot Grill in Twin Falls where we enjoy more family talk while sampling the brunch buffet. Still talking, we take our visit to the city park and enjoy the rest of a pleasant morning with Annie Lou and Jack until it is time for them to join some friends for an afternoon of playing cards. They go their way and we head for a quick visit with our dear friend, Stasia, who is the same age as Annie Lou (85) and almost as spry. She is packed and ready to leave this afternoon on a trip to Oregon to attend the wedding of one of her granddaughters. We share family updates (the upcoming wedding and trip, her great grandchildren’s arrivals, our son’s move to Phoenix and our 13th grandchild’s first birthday). We say farewell, wishing her happy and safe travels.
Friends Jim and Linda, have invited us to dinner at their ranch in Richfield. However, before leaving Twin Falls, we have to make one more stop: Kelly’s fruit and vegetable stand. It is a little early in the season but we are hoping to find some fresh picked cherries. There aren’t many, but an early crop is available and we buy a small bagful. We sample some early peaches and add a few of those to our bag. Now we are set with some delicious fresh fruits as we head back out on our road trip.…Yummy!
We arrive at Jim and Linda’s and are excited to view their progress of refurbishing the old stone farmstead house, making it more livable. They have done a lot to it and nicely updated it as best they can. We have a wonderful visit and enjoy a delicious and refreshing salad for dinner. Linda’s homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie is just toooo tempting and wins out over the fresh fruit she also has out.
The hour is late and will get even later if we don’t make ourselves leave now and get to a campground. They have plenty of room for us but we know we would have the same struggle in the morning, delaying our departure. So we force ourselves to say good bye and drive back to the town of Shoshone where we had spotted an RV Camp just off the highway next to a Shell Station.

October 31, 2008
by Julia
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This is another fun visit of old stomping grounds

From the “Legacy Park”, we meander on around town before heading back to Twin Falls, driving past the city park with the original swimming pool and old stone bath house; the old school sites (all of the school buildings torn down now), the church, and the still lovely home of a parishioner that Annie Lou told us manages to get to church regularly at 100+ years young!; then back to Twin Falls, where we continue our meandering until it is time to freshen up and head to dinner at the Clear Lakes Country Club.
This is another fun visit of old stomping grounds. We are impressed with the size of the homes now built along the rim of the Snake River Canyon and around the country club. We are also amazed at the size of the fish hatcheries, apparently very successful. The old wooden bridge is still being used and as we drive across it, Julia shares memories of looking for and catching a glimpse of the big sturgeon that occupied that area of the river.
This final event of the class reunion is even more fun than the previous ones, with more new faces to recognize. We manage to get a ‘class picture’ taken which is a challenge akin to gathering and organizing first graders with everyone excitedly chatting while recognizing and greeting each other!
The local class members who have organized the entire event have out done themselves. We enjoy a continuous slide show of early class pictures (we are talking back to kindergarten here!) and newspaper articles and pictures of special accomplishments, and recognitions, homecomings and such. We have fun with a challenging by a contest which concludes with a group effort to identify class members in some of those elementary school class pictures. Then we have some special recognitions for various participant feats such as distance traveled (driving from El Paso, TX), longest marriage (day of graduation), most children (8), least changed/most changed, etc. Julia wins with the most Grandchildren (13 to brag about!). A proposal was made and the group agreed that we should not wait another 10 years before getting together again. Our Senior Class President didn’t realize back then that his position would be for ‘life’ but he grins and agrees to continue leading our class to another reunion in five years. Besides, they’re on a role with the success of this one, might as well keep the momentum going!