On the way to Missoula

The drive between Sun Valley and Missoula is pretty unique. First, there's the Salmon River Valley, a very picturesque place and then after passing the Lost Trail ski area at 7,000 feet, a beautiful descent into the Bitterroots Valley with a stop in the charming town of Darby and its unique one-block long tourist shop with its remarkable candy section.

Missoula stands at the end of the trail with its large, older city, its many students and funky stores and restaurants. Our hotel, the C'mon Inn was the perfect log construction showcase. We drove downtown and picked a sushi place for dinner, with a tantalizing $1 for 1 offer.

Sure, it wasn't the kind of eatery we find in Park City, but it hit the spot nonetheless. Too bad that the weather – From the Lost Trail pass to Missoula was freezing!

What's going on in Sun Valley, Idaho?

Not much on an early September Sunday. The place was deserted when we got there two days ago.

Much commercial real estate for sale and lease, plenty of real estate brokerage offices, and not much going on. Isolation, hard access and a tiny, hard to reach airport with few seats seem to be the challenges that are plaguing that mountain town.

The heydays of Sun Valley are getting to be something of the past. When I first visited the place in the late 80s, I thought it was cool, but now it might be getting a bit cold!

So hard to go on vacation!

When you live in Park City, getting away from that wonderful place almost takes an irrational or violent act.

In most cases, wherever we might be going won't be as much fun, the weather will sure be lacking and even tough the scenery might be more beautiful or drastically different, it won't quite make up for all the other elements we're missing.

So, here we go, we force ourselves to get out of town in order to discover what's still outside of “our bubble” and get a regular dose of reality!

Getting the North Koreans in line

Only the Chinese can solve that problem. Certainly neither not more sanctions, nor a resumption of negotiation with North Korea. We've been wasting our time far too long in trying to have a sane discussion with an insane regime.

This time, Obama and the State Department must tell the Chinese that they have rein in their protegé once and for all, plus take away his nuclear toys. If they don't, we'll hit them where it hurts most and will start imposing duties on Chinese-made imports unless they'd rather have us nuke the crazy little man to oblivion..

Even though I don't like Trump, this time I have to borrow a page from him. As simple as that.

Is Park City going to the dogs?

In Park City, dogs are just like sacred cows in India.

At times, pooches are more important than people. They have their own psychics who can talk to them, their own summer camps, baby-sitters, birthday parties and the like.

Because of well orchestrated public pressure, they can now roam free on trails, can cause you to fall if you're mountain-biking or bite you in the buttock if you're just walking by.

I won't even mention dog owners not picking after their dogs when no one sees them or leaving poop bags along the way, never to be claimed.

Worst, if you don't own a dog – like I do – people wonder what might be wrong with you.

Call this a case of the tail wagging the dog!

My fascination with Chef's Table

“Chef's Table” is an American documentary series that we've been watching religiously on Netflix. David Gelb, its creator, considers this series a follow-up to his critically acclaimed documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”.

Every episode profiles a single world-renowned chef who tell his own story. Each show generally focuses on a unique aspect of the careers that are featured, so no one is ever the same. While some shows are a bit fake or pretentious, more are deeply touching.

The take-away from all these show is that without determination, single-mindedness and passion, there is no exceptional food. A must-watch show.

When mountain-biking kills...

A few days ago, someone killed himself on a new “designer mountain bike runs” that have begun to sprout around Park City.

While mountain-biking isn't a sport for sissies and sees its share of bloody falls, broken bones and concussions, death has been up to now a rare occurrence.

My sense is that with the introduction to these downhill-only “flow trails”, that are artificially designed and built for spectacular banked turns, jumps and undulations to create a flowing ride experience, riders find themselves in a situation similar to super steep groomed ski runs in which it's super easy to loose track of any sense of relation between speed and control.

These new flow trails and their special features like banked turns, rolling terrain, various types of jumps, and consistent and predictable surfaces promote a high rate of speed and users get so intoxicated by their fast descent that they lose their sense of control and danger relative to speed.

I have experimented a flow trail like the ones described above last year and I got scared to death on it; immediately, I could see the inherent danger of unbridled speed with a hard terrain, rocks and trees all around...