As part of my new injury management programme, I’m experimenting with one day on the mountain and one day off. I iced up last night and my leg wasn’t swollen this morning. I was sorely tempted to go for a ski but discipline and maybe good sense prevailed. I read till late in the evening last night and finished The Revenant a book about the frontier in this region just after the War of 1812. It was the film adaption of this book that gave Leonardo Di Caprio his first Best Actor award at the Oscars last week. This is another of the books I purchased on the swing through LAX almost three weeks ago. Luckily, I bought up big. Not a bad yarn but the weakest ending of a fiction book I’ve encountered in many a long year. I’m tempted to write to him and offer to rewrite the last chapter. So many great possibilities and he picked the worst one. So many authors struggle with the ending.

So first job today was to hit the pool at the YMCA, before breakfast. Starting to think about what’s waiting at home. Spoke to Barry yesterday and he has been training the house down. After the regulation 50 laps, I called by Lizzy’s Fresh Coffee on Main St. We have made a habit of morning coffee with founder Liz Roquet and her delightful staff, big Paul the barista par-excellence and Alissa, who works the counter. This small business may just serve the best cup of coffee in North America. It is definitely the best cup of coffee here in the valley. Part of the secret is probably that Liz roasts the beans on the spot. The roaster is in an open room behind the coffee bar. The beans are obviously fresh as they only have to travel a couple of metres and Paul keeps the espresso machine scrupulously clean. This seems to be a thriving little business which is also sending roasted coffee beans all over the USA.

Not surprisingly, the place is a magnet for Australian permanent residents in Sun Valley.

A few days ago we met Julie Harvey; originally from Adelaide and long term valley resident. She runs Harvey Art Projects, an aboriginal art gallery in the town. Lovely person and we spent half an hour swapping stories about outback communities we had visited

Today, I met Sonia Sommer, a health professional and also long term resident of the town, who hailed originally from Sydney. We discussed how bad the coffee in America is and how Lizzy’s café is a port in a storm.

Unfortunately, Liz only keeps the coffee bar part of the business open until 10.30am so at the appointed hour, as I was the only customer left, I thought I should depart. I actually felt like ordering another cup and settling in for awhile. I am really going to enjoy retirement when it comes. There is a part of me that really enjoys sitting around doing nothing but talking to interesting people. And there seems to be a lot of interesting people who wander through this little coffee shop. Ernest Hemingway would have come here if Lizzy’s was open when he lived in the town. I got so wrapped up in talking to everyone, I forgot to pay for my coffee and had to go back later.

A DAY AT THE COFFEE SHOP

In the afternoon, at Allan’s suggestion, we decided to drive north of town to check out the scenery. The views of the Sawtooth Mountains north west of Ketchum, are renowned. We weren’t disappointed. An hour’s drive brought us to Galena Summit (8701 ft), high in the Rockies. The summit overlooks the headwaters of the Salmon River and the snow covered mountain bowls that feed it. Although spring is here, the country was covered with a thick blanket of snow.

THE TRIP TO GALENA SUMMIT