Sun Valley

Posted on February 11, 2014February 11, 2014 by Dusty Roads

If you don’t like Colorado then the next state from my To Be Visited list with a timeshare exchange is Idaho and there’s only one option, Sun Valley.

I always thought of Sun Valley as a ski area but I guess they have year – round activities.

I found a Sun Valley Bucket list on the internet but it revolved around skiing, mountain biking, skiing, golf, white water rafting, skiing, you get the picture. I don’t ski and I don’t like cold.

I turned to my trusty 1000 Places to See Before You Die. The first thing they list is Almo, Idaho, the City of Rocks. According to MapQuest it’s a 3 hour drive from Sun Valley and 159 miles.

The 2nd Idaho must see is Craters of the Moon in Arco, Idaho. That’s a little better. It comes in at an hour and 40 minutes and 85 miles. The pictures remind me of the lava fields in Hawaii.

Hells Canyon sounds interesting but that’s another long distance drive of 5 hours and 265 miles.

If I drive an hour and 45 minutes I should be able to connect with the Salmon River Scenic Byway. Then it’s just another 162 miles to drive that.

Another possible item listed is the Snake River Birds of Prey Conservation area. I could see myself setting up and taking bird pictures. That’s only 2 hours and 40 minutes from Sun Valley and 150 miles.

I’m getting a little tired of these drives and I haven’t even gone there yet. The Sawtooth National Recreation area located in Stanley seems to be a bit closer, only 62 miles and 1 hour away.

There were a few more recommendations but they were all 3 hours + from Sun Valley.

I’m not sure using Sun Valley as a base would be a good choice. Idaho looks like a beautiful state with lots to see but it’s so spread out that I almost think an RV would be a better way to explore. If I were a skier and liked the cold, then Sun Valley would be an American Classic.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

What to do 2014 Vacation?

Posted on February 10, 2014February 10, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 4 Comments

Here we are well into February and the only decision I’ve made about vacation this year is that I need to use my time share and that I want to be able to cross another state off my To Be Visited list.

Sandy tells me she’s staying home this year so I’ll be flying solo. My time share just launched Club Solo, an additional membership which has been developed to provide a range of benefits for those members of THE Club® who vacation alone on a regular basis. Of course there’s an additional annual fee but it might be worth it. Some of the perks of membership are: For reservations for studio or club suite accommodations at a Diamond Resorts International® resort booked 10 months to 6 months prior to arrival, you will receive a 25% discount on the points values quoted. When booking from 6 months prior to arrival, you will receive a 50% discount.

That kind of discount would open up more resorts. Something to think about for a future add on. I think this year I’ll stick to my regular membership.

I plan to make a return trip to New York in September to try to get more photos of hot air balloons. Now that I’ve done it once and can see how it works, I think I can improve my shots.

So the question now is where do I want to go and what time of year to use the rest of my vacation time. I compared my list of Must Visit States to the states with timeshare exchanges and that only narrowed it down a little.

There were 30 states on that list and of those 30 my timeshare has exchanges in 17 of them. If I were to tackle the list alphabetically then the first state on the list with a time share exchange is Colorado.

Colorado has 2 exchanges, one in Steam Boat Springs and the other in Estes Park. My initial reaction is that the Estes Park location is more to my liking but when I did a search about the best time to visit (for wildlife viewing) the recommended months were June for baby animals or September for the Elk Rut. July and August didn’t even make the list!

I’m interested in wildlife photography first and landscape photography second. Often they kind of go hand in hand anyway.

Do any of you live in the area? Has anyone visited? When time of year did you go? Any suggestions? I would plan to rent a car to get around. I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Olympic Fever

Posted on February 9, 2014February 9, 2014 by Dusty Roads

The 2014 Winter Olympics are underway in Sochi. News coverage has been considerable. Does everyone have Olympic Fever?

Russia is using the Olympics to showcase its post-soviet resurrection and why not? Doesn’t every country that hosts an Olympic Games put their best foot forward? Too bad the Russians haven’t been able to accomplish that.

When the press arrived in Sochi to unfinished construction, toilets that wouldn’t flush and hotel door handles that wouldn’t lock, the Sochi Olympics got their first black eye.

The Russian response boiled down to this: Some reporters are sabotaging Sochi’s Olympics accommodations for splashy headlines. Russian officials know this because they have surveillance cameras in hotel rooms. And at least some of those surveillance cameras are focused on hotel showers. Oh Oh! Voyeurism at it’s finest!

You can’t clean your teeth because the security scare has you packing your tooth paste in your checked luggage if you get to bring it at all, so what’s a little body order to go along with bad breath?

I wish the Olympics had all star commercials like the Superbowl. Coke has a cute commercial with a Puffin and the Polar Bears. I liked that one.

Every year a new event gets tried out. This year an event called Slopestyle, a snow boarding event, was getting some exposure but before the first bell the competitors were backing out. American Snowboarder, Shaun White called the course “Unsafe” and withdrew. According to news reports he’s just one of the contestants to express concerns with the course for the new event.

I have no bone to pick with the Olympics. They all seem to have their share of problems and bad press no matter where they hold them. I wish all the competitors the best. Leave your tooth paste in your checked bags, avoid the showers and may the best man and/or woman win.

My Nemesis, Technology

Posted on February 8, 2014February 8, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

I’m not one of those old dinosaurs that can’t use a computer. When it comes to learning new software I do a pretty good job keeping up with the youngsters. But where I lose patience is when the stupid computer won’t do what I tell it to.

It’s one thing for it to “Go Down” when it’s the work computer. We’ve got a whole department of IT people to come to our rescue. Case in point, yesterday the whole system went down at work. The IT sprung into action and in about 5 minutes had the system back up. It sputtered and ran slow for a bit but finally settled in and work life was back to normal

So this morning I logged into my personal computer and none of my Microsoft programs are working. I can’t access Microsoft Word or Excel. I used them both yesterday. Today it tells me to “fix” them in control panel. So off to control panel I go. When I opened the application to see what was wrong it tells me in one place that the applications are still downloading but in another that the download is done. Grrrr.

Maybe I’ll try rebooting the whole computer again. Maybe it just glitched when it booted up but right now I don’t have the time to fuss with a balky computer.

Buddy destroyed my printer the other day. Yup. I came home and found him in the act. paper trays had been pulled out and paper was everywhere. After I put it back together and put in new ink cartridges the cartridges couldn’t be aligned. I have no idea how he got his paw into that part of the printer mechanism but it looks like I’m going to have to buy a new printer. Maybe I’ll have to think about a whole new computer system if my computer is going to start giving me problems.

I don’t have an IT department to bail out my personal computer and trotting a 3 year old computer and printer off for repairs may not be cost effective. I have such a love/ hate relationship with my computer! My laptop died a couple of months ago. It’s only good for playing games now. Try to get online and I’ll die of old age before it connects.

Well I’m going to go pound my head against a wall now. At least I know I am not alone in my continuing battle with technology. I leave you with dialog from 2001 A Space Odyssey.