Making Friends in an Idaho Ski Town

DRIGGS, IDAHO – Our kids want to make some friends…

Since we left Florida three years ago, we’ve been traveling non-stop.

We’ve been to 30 countries and made a complete circumnavigation of the planet. We’ve traveled by road, rail, air, and sea. We’ve lived in Airbnbs, hotel rooms, youth hostels, and more recently, a tent.

And while we’ve met so many kind, generous people, the kids haven’t really had a chance to make friends.

Now we’re living in a small mountain town, skiing every day, so we have the perfect opportunity to meet some other families.

We posted this ad in a local Facebook group over the weekend:

We are out-of-town homeschoolers spending the winter in Driggs for the ski season. We go up the mountain every day. Our kids (ages 13, 11, and 8) would love to meet some other kids their age to go snowboarding/skiing with. Are there any other families out there looking to make some new ski friends?

Our post has gotten 44 likes and 21 comments so far… But will our kids find some friends to ski with? More below…

Miles Turns 11

Greetings from Driggs, Idaho, where we’re hunkering down for the winter…

It’s Miles’ birthday today. He’s 11.

Since we’re always moving, we find it sort of comforting that some things stay the same. Like having a little party on our birthdays.

We’ve celebrated birthdays in Belgrade, Cairo, Mumbai, Nanning, Baltimore, London…

Here in Driggs, we took the day off school, and we did screen time all morning in our cozy little Airbnb.

We went skiing in the afternoon. Kate made Miles’ favorite meal – lasagna for supper, and ice cream sandwiches for dessert.

Then we gave Miles his presents. He got a digital watch, some new clothes, a fidget cube, a travel chess set, and a new giraffe.

(Old giraffe was left behind at a hotel a few months ago.)

Making Friends in Driggs

Kate wanted to go to the supermarket yesterday, so I went to get the car for her. (We park our car in a garage a few minutes’ walk from where we live.)

On my way there, I spotted some kids playing on the 10-foot mounds of snow left on the side of the road by the plough. I ran home…

“There are kids playing outside. Quick! Go and play with them,” I said to Dusty, Miles, and Penny.

“How old are they?” asked Dusty.

“About your age…”

Ten minutes later, they were playing together. Here they are…

– Tom Dyson

Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [email protected].

Tom hears from Montana Postcards readers Pete and Gingy, with whom the Dyson family stayed during their Great American Road Trip…

Reader comment: Hi Tom, Kate and young-uns, we’re glad to hear your time in Idaho is working out so well and that you are learning how to ski. We think about your visit here often and fondly, and hope you will stop by sometime when COVID-19 allows (and weather is more car-friendly).

Meanwhile, more readers offer their condolences for Tom on the loss of his mother…

Reader comment: Very hard to lose a parent. Having lost both of mine, I can sympathize with you. And Tessa. Dogs also feel the loss. May God bless.

Reader comment: We are sending our deepest condolences to you and your family in the passing of your beloved mother. It feels like a loss to us (of course, not in the same way) because of how you have opened up your life to us.

You have an incredible gift in writing, not just about the financial arena, but about your joys, grief, losses, and dreams. Thank you for sharing yourself and family with all of us. We are all better and richer from it.

And finally, last week, one reader said China could never compete economically with the U.S. because “success stories are always born in the West.” Today, another offers a counterargument…

Reader comment: One of your reader’s categorical summation on China is badly misinformed. To assert that “success stories are always born in the West,” I am sure gives him/her a false sense of comfort but is way off the mark. China is surpassing the U.S. in number of patents filed and publications in leading scientific journals.

The number of Chinese technical and scientific breakthroughs will simply boggle your reader’s mind if they are open-minded and willing to face reality.

Tom’s response: Thank you for your kind words and messages. Please keep writing us at [email protected], and I’ll answer your questions in a future Friday mailbag edition.