The first, who brought public attention to Sun Valley was Ernest Hemingway in the late 1930s. The author was one of many celebrities, Harriman, the hotel founder, invited to Sun Valley to promote the place. Hemingway worked on "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (Wem die Stunde schlägt) in Suite # 206 of the Sun Valley Lodge. Later he acquired his own house in Ketchum, but in ill health he shot himself at his home in Ketchum in 1961.
There are a couple of Hemingway sites in Ketchum: the Public Library's archives and the Sun Valley Museum of History, with one of his typewriters, his suite in the Sun Valles Lodge, but first of all, his gravesite. On the Ketchum Cemetery Hemingway is buried under three towering spruce trees, marked with a simple white cross and covered by a large, gray marble slab. Don't think, the beer bottles people have left, show good taste, but, well... Beside Hemingway's grave is the burial place of his last wife, Mary, who died in 1986.
Unfortunately, Ernest and Mary Hemingway's home can't be visited, but about a mile up the river from Sun Valley Resort, there is the Hemingway Memorial, a column with a bronze bust (see pic) – a salute to the man who this piece of Idaho and who came here to hunt and fish and to write. When we explored the town of Ketchum - mostly outfitters, sport shops, restaurants - we also stopped by at Hemingway's favorite pub, the Casino bar, which has little changed from the days. In the "Alpine" (now Whiskey Jacques, see pic), Hemingway once staged a mock bullfight.
Ketchum and Sun Valley don't make a big deal out of their Hemingway heritage, they do little to promote the Hemingway connection, but we found the places and do understand now, why he liked the area. After we had followed Hemingway's footsteps, we left Sun Valley and Bald Mountain (see pic), where in the morning our car was snowed in freshly. Our car has become our "living room" and "storage area" in the meantime: for our Alaska gear, for souvenirs, for drinks, for paper stuff... Will miss our car, nicely running with a great milage of average 30 mpg and seat heating. Won't miss all the snow - more than we've seen the last couple years in Bavaria!
We followed Hwy. 20 - part of the old Oregon Trail and got a good view of the Sawtooth Mountains on our way to Boise:
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