Oh cmcfong ~ how you do make me laugh. I am SO glad that the "OH" birthday celebration continues! Even here in our area, we too have declared this the 'year of cmcfong'. You are so cute, and we have lived vicariously through your 'trip a month' year!

The The Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch sounds so delightful. For a moment I truly was on that porch sipping lemonade, great description, I even saw a bald eagle. And sweet Elsa at the Ellsworth Inn, bless her heart.

How special it is that your friends surprised you each day with a little treat!

Welcome home, dear friend, you have a following now with the 'trip a month' Big-Oh birthday celebration year and yet again you don't let your public down! (I just reread your Bermuda report the other day!)

p.s. DH and I will be visiting your Angry Trout in a few weeks! I'll look for your otters!

Great report, thank you.
((L)) Tiff

Hi Cmcfong, A Happy Birthday to you too! I will also be celebrating a big "0" b'day later this year, but Idaho in Dec. is not where I'll be. Great trip report, we've been out to Stanley/Sun Valley, it is beautiful out there and we loved watching the Prarie Dogs!
Since you loved the hiking/scenery in ID, wait until you get to AR. You are going to go wild! We've pretty much been all over this country and have been totally blown away by the scenery in AR, especially Iguazu and Patagonia!

Glad to hear you're having a great travelling year, I'm not too far behind you!

cmcfong: Happy Birthday! It sounds like you had a great trip. And Stanley is beautiful, isn't it? I love the Sawtooths.

Thank you for all the great birthday wishes. I do love to celebrate. One morning while I was up at the breakfast buffet snarfing up the day's ration of blueberry cinammon crumb cake and scones, everyone at my table put on these ridiculous tee shirts with my photo and 'Yippppeee, I am SIXTY" written across them. Too funny.

Tiff, I so wish I could join you and DH at the Angry Trout. It remains a favorite treat, especially the little otter family antics. I will be doing my December celebration in Bermuda! Can't let much time pass without a visit. You and DH will love it there.

Owlwoman, I am looking forward to seeing Bariloche and environs. I have enjoyed your postings and learned so much from them. Scarlett and I are having fun planning our visits to Argentina .

Clousie, we did several hikes. Sawtooth Lakes was a lovely trail, about 10 miles with significant elevation gain. The easiest was Fourth of July Lake which we extended to a challenging hike up to the ridge for a phenomenal view. The Beast of this trip was Horton's Peak, it is 3 miles up with an almost 3000 foot elevation gain. I am in pretty good shape for a woman of a certain age (in my case it is the big SIX OH). I love to hike and climb a local mountain regularly (1200' elevation gain over two miles). I have good aerobic capacity but am so clumsy even my mother pretends not to know me at times. The clumsy is an issue on those narrow trails with sheer wall drops. EEEK.
One trail we passed on was Alice Lake recommended by several folks. It is 12 miles long with only moderate elevation gain. IRMR has topo maps of all the trails and every person on staff was able to make suggestions (with really good critical observations) on hikes. It was nice to hear about a trail from someone who had done it within the past two weeks. There were many many trails from which to choose. Some fairly short ones ran right out of the ranch and we could do those after dinner or while waiting for the group to gather. I have to say getting eight adults underway every day was a little like herding cats.
Yes on the early reservations. I booked as soon as the dates were set because IRMR has so much repeat business. There are two other places of this genre I just love, Mt. Engadine in Canmore, Alberta and Lake O'Hara Lodge near Field, BC. I find booking ahead absolutely essential for all three.
wtm: bump Idaho up to the top of your life list. It won't disappoint you!
Kurieff: I love the Sawtooths too!!!!

LOL, I love the t-shirt story, that is great. And it warms my heart to know you have such special people that adore you in your life because you deserve it and are so truly special to all of us here!

One of the reasons I was re-visiting your Bermuda report is because DH has said with great pride and happiness that he is "Taking me away for my '4-0' next summer" and I thought Bermuda might be a good choice. I am barely 39 and already planning where to go for my 40th. It is a disease I know.
:S-

Bookmarking for a visit to a state I haven't been too!

Tiff, you are in the best years right now! If I could pick any age it would be late thirties. Bermuda would be a perfect place to celebrate. If there is any resort you would like me to check out on my trip I would be glad to do it.
You are right I have some wonderful friends who certainly do make things such fun. You are a sweetie!

A great report on an area I haven't even thought of visiting. My husband and I have planned several hiking vacations the last few years and we are always looking for a new location.

You have stayed at Lake O'Hara Lodge?!!!
That is my dream vacation but it is really expensive. We are planning on at least hiking the area next year. We fell in love with the Canadian Rockies when we visited in Sept. 2004. Stayed at the Emerald Lake Lodge for part of the week--what a spectacular location. The Lake Louise and Jasper areas were truly a hiker's paradise and we have a lot more hikes to try there. I wanted to return this year but it didn't happen.

Happy birthday and thanks for the great report.

Linda, Lake O'Hara is a huge splurge for us, but worth every penny. Enzian, Bob Brown and I are all big fans of the place. A similar place worth considering is Mt.Engadine Lodge in Canmore. There are so many hikes up there, I could never do them all....but I am trying!

Hi cmcfong---wonderful trip report, and thank you for checking on the tennis courts. It looks like the hiking there is so great we would go just for that---I've not yet been to the Sawtooths in the summer. And it's a shorter drive from home than where we usually go (the Wasatch of Utah). So I'll suggest it for next summer (which will be my "big-OH" birthday too).

In the meantime, I'm still trying to find time to sneak off to Lake O'Hara Lodge with my husband. I have a beautiful photo of the place (as a poster) on the wall of my office, right where I can look up from the computer and see it.

Enzian, it really has your name all over it!

My name, really? I've seen lots of chalets in the Swiss alps named "Enzian". . . . but Idaho?

But seriously, I'm convinced; just have to find a time when we can go.

The amazing thing is it had your name and mine all over it!! EnzianCMCFong...kind of stood out to me.

topping for johnthedorf

I would have regretted missing the opportunity to wish you a Happy Birthday, cmcfong!!

BTW, the food on this trip sounded fabulous...made me hungry, lol. :D

Cheers to a wonderful year to come! ((f))

Thanks, STW, you are definitely not too late...this is a year of celebration for me and the party continues!
The food at IRMR was indeed terrific. Now I am hungry just thinking about it.......

Great report and Happy Birthday! I was gone when this was posted!

cmcfong--I am so glad you topped this. We were on vacation when this thread was started so I missed it the first time around. Idaho is beautiful (we lived in the SE area for a bit), but I have never spent time in the area you were at. We love to hike, so I am sharing your report with dh. Thanks!

Hey, cmcfong. Thanks for the report. We did a white water trip on the Snake river a few years ago and the drive up thru Idaho is breathtaking.

Now a great excuse to go back.. Have put IRMR in my favorites file.

Happy BD, too!

Thank you for a great trip report, cmcfong! I haven't been to Idaho in YEARS, but will always consider it one of the most beautiful places on earth! Your trip report makes me want to go back SOON, and thanks for posting your photos, too!

((*))Happy continued OH birthday celebrations!!!! ((*))