Eating well factors into vacationing too, and to that end, Whitetail offers two restaurants – casual Emma’s and the Narrows, a fine dining, evening-only venue featuring sweeping vistas of the lake. Both restaurants make use of indigenous ingredients. Emma’s, for example, offers smoked Idaho trout omelets and duck salad with glazed pecans, while the Narrows seasonal menu features Kobe short ribs with Idaho Merlot reduction, oven-roasted Idaho rainbow trout with crabmeat and lemon beurre blanc and oven-roasted half duckling with honey-huckleberry demiglace. Entrée prices at the Narrows range between $18 and $43, while you can do very nicely at Emma’s for well under $20 per person.

As much as there is to do at Whitetail, you may still feel the urge to venture off-site for a look around. If excitement is on your vacation agenda, look no further than Hells Canyon Raft, a small, owner-operated company specializing in three- to six-day river-rafting trips down the Snake and Salmon Rivers. HCR also offers a one-day, 20-mile ride down the Salmon, a “pool and drop” river (i.e., calm pools between rapids), which is especially suited to novices, children and scaredy cats. From launch to pick-up, the trip takes about six hours, and it’s nothing but fun – lots of lazing around intermixed with periods of serious paddling through Class III white water. By the time the boat pulls up to a sandy beach for lunch, you’ll be very appreciative of the yummy spread of sandwiches, salads, fruits and cookies the staff provides. This Whitetail-arranged day-trip makes a great introduction to river rafting.

For milder thrills, take the kids to one of the resort’s four fully stocked ponds for catch-and-release fishing that pretty much guarantees success. They’ll love it, and you won’t have to clean the fish.

No matter what you choose to do at Whitetail, whether it’s spending your days as a super-athlete or making like a first class slug, you’re bound to fall in love with this beautiful, family-oriented retreat. In fact, a stay at Whitetail is as close as some of us will ever get to having our own private Idaho.