There truly is something for everyone at the Sun Valley Resort in Idaho. Opened in 1937, Sun Valley has been dubbed “the nation’s first ski resort.” But that’s only a beginning to what’s available here. There’s also great golf and so much more.

The White Clouds nine-hole course, sometimes referred to as “Alpine Links” for its wide open and rolling terrain, offers dramatic elevation changes and panoramic views. The course rises up 350 feet from the first tee to its highest point on the wayback tee of the 685-yard No. 5 hole, where you’re greeted with a fantastic 360-degree view. This hole is 637 yards on the card, but last summer there was a sixth teebox added and dedicated as the “R. E. Holding Tee” for the Sun Valley Resort owner. A plaque reads, “This is not all about golf,” and a bench was placed alongside it strictly for savoring the view of the Wood River Valley far below.

Designed by architect Donald Knott, White Clouds serves up many outstanding views, but the most impressive is the No. 8 tee. A par 4 of 520 yards from the back has an amazing 160-foot drop to the fairway. From this height, a good drive even from an average golfer should go close to 300 yards if struck well.

The original 18-hole course, Trail Creek, was redesigned by Knott in 1978-79 with Robert Trent Jones Jr. This layout weaves its way through a mature forest and crosses its namesake creek for what seems like every hole. The parkland-style design with narrow fairways bordered by beautiful cottonwood trees was originally opened in 1937. It was rerouted somewhat to accommodate the new state-of-the-art clubhouse, which doubles as a Nordic center in the winter. There is a 25-acre practice facility that allows for hitting off the grass with practice bunkers and has a really cool 18-hole putting course called Sawtooths, its name and design inspired by the nearby Sawtooth Mountains.

Off the course, Sun Valley offers top notch skiing, an outdoor ice skating rink that’s open all summer, a gun club, horseback riding, tennis, fly fishing, hiking and rafting down the Salmon River, just to name a few activities. And this winter, the resort launched its first-ever gondola.

At a cost of $10 million, the Roundhouse Gondola features 56 eight-passenger cabins made of 85 percent clear material to assist sightseeing. The gondola takes skiers 2,000 vertical feet up Bald Mountain to the Roundhouse Restaurant and Seattle Ridge area, runs in eight minutes and is capable of transporting more than 1,800 people per hour. “We are really excited about the gondola opening, and it is the biggest Doppelmayr project in North America,” says Jack Sibbach, Sun Valley’s marketing director. “The gondola gives easier and quicker access to Seattle Ridge and some of the other mountain terrain. Instead of taking two lifts, now you’ll just need to hop onto one.”

The Sun Valley Pavilion, which opened in 2008, plays host to the Sun Valley Summer Symphony Series and seats 1,500 guests under cover and another 2,500 on the lawn. The dominating proscenium arch was constructed in a Washington shipyard and shipped to Sun Valley in three separate pieces, then welded back together onsite. The horn-shaped copper-covered roof allows the structure to blend seamlessly with Sun Valley’s natural beauty. The Symphony Pavilion shows are performed by top symphony orchestra members from around the country who come to Sun Valley for the season.

Every August for the past 33 years, the Danny Thompson Memorial Golf Tournament has gathered celebrities, sponsors, participants and supporters with one common goal: to find a cure for leukemia and cancer. The tournament is named for Danny Thompson, who played infield for the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers before he died of leukemia in 1976 at age 29. Co-founder of the tournament is Hall of Fame slugger Harmon Killebrew, a teammate of Thompson’s.

In August 2008, on his first visit to Sun Valley for the Danny Thompson Memorial golf tournament, Don Felder of the Eagles, one of the most successful recording artists of the 1970s, was taking a leisurely walk around Sun Valley Village when he saw the Sun Valley Pavilion for the first time. It was there that he first thought of an idea for a concert.

“I saw the pavilion and thought, what a great place to have a show,” says Felder, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1998. “I proposed the idea to Georgie Fenton, the tournament director. The idea was for all proceeds to go to the Thompson Memorial. Her eyes lit up. Hundreds of e-mails later, the idea finally came to fruition.”

The concert was called “An Evening at the Hotel California,” featuring Felder and some of his musical buddies, which included his son Cody on percussion. It was the kickoff event for the four-day, 33rd annual Danny Thompson festivities.

Felder, a 9.6 handicap golfer who has played in such celebrity pro-am events as the Bob Hope Classic, said it was an honor to be invited to the Thompson Memorial for the first time in 2008. He donated his time for the concert and was grateful for the Thompson sponsors who stepped up to pay for his fellow musicians, “the best singers and players I could find,” he says. “This group has been with me for three years. We play a lot of corporate and charity events, and what I call ‘billionaire birthday parties.’”

As for the concert itself, Felder featured such well-known Eagles songs as “Hotel California,” “Heartache Tonight,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” “Tequila Sunrise,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Take It Easy.”

For this old hacker, the golf at Sun Valley was challenging and fun, but the concert may have been the best I’ve ever seen.