Snowshoeing in Moose Creek

Since there are no moose in California, you probably have already guessed that we did indeed make our annual Thanksgiving trek back to the Teton Valley. And in pure Teton Valley style, we are waiting out blizzard-like conditions before heading back south again. Hence all the time to post. Oh yeah, and the men in my family decided to spend the day skiing in this. I am sure I will get to hear how fabulous it was. It's also nice to be near a fire and dry while the wind rages on out there - because although I may have braved the weather in the past to get in a cross country ski, I no longer have it in me after having been Californified.

Most of our visit, however, has been rather mild conditions for early winter Idaho. We almost saw 50 one day, and stripped down to base layer on several hikes. We took our first expedition on Tuesday with Ethan, and as the title suggests, we headed to the Moose Creek trailhead.

Assuming the snow wasn't quite deep enough for cross country skis, we took out snowshoes. We had to walk about 1/2 mile back the unplowed road to the start of the actual trailhead, and then enjoyed a nice climb up for about an hour before turning around. It was definitely ski-able, and we regretted our snowshoe choice a bit.

I am sure for those of my family members who have been reading the blog all along you really missed these snow pictures!!




One might wonder what would possess a person to leave San Diego in November (temperatures mainly in the 60s and 70s) for Teton Valley, Idaho.

Because I have a lot of time on my hands today, I have time to ponder that thought.

Part of it is of course because we have such wonderful memories of Idaho - specifically of the times we had enjoying the outdoors and otherwise at our Victor house.

And of course the main purpose of returning is to enjoy time with the friends we still have here. Lucy has been enjoying the week with her friend Camille, and Ethan has been inseparable from Owen. It is fantastic to have the opportunity for the kids to stay in contact with two of their best friends.

We even had the chance to enjoy a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal with our long-time dinner buddies - Wendy, Doug and family.

And on the dog front, our little coddled pup Shadow had his first cold and snow experience. I think if he could talk, he'd be telling us how much he absolutely adores the snow. While I experience nothing but leash aggression with him on trails in SoCal, here he is the perfect dog ambassador, greeting all dogs happily, so happily, that he tried to wander off with just about everyone we met.



I even took the requisite Idaho signage pictures - although I think both of these signs are technically in Wyoming. My favorite - the bear warnings (of course) - and yes, I do not believe that bears truly hibernate. They can always be feared. And then last but not least, our favorite wilderness - the Jedediah Smith Wilderness. We didn't get very far into it before Ethan started arguing hard for the turnaround, but we crossed the threshold nonetheless.




Happy Thanksgiving to all our family members and friends we couldn't join this year. Sometime we will all wise up and head to San Diego for these winter holidays!