Gettin' out my ax

"If Mother Nature had a second home, Idaho would be it." I cannot stop laughing at the slogan we saw several times in Idaho travel literature. Every time we read it, we just busted up. Despite the ridiculous-ness of that quote, however, I can say whole heartedly that Sandpoint, Idaho is a GREAT town...and I'd definitely go back in a hot second. The short vacation flew by (isn't that the theme of the last 3 months) and both HH and I didn't want to leave...we maximized every bit of the trip and got home as late as possible. We drove over on Sunday-- singing through the state to an awesome ipod playlist of cheesy 70s tunes -- and stayed until Wednesday at this too-cute "Cowboy Cabin" right on the lake...so fun!



Lake Pend Orille in Sandpoint is 43 miles long with mountains all around...gorgeous. The weather was perfect and we discovered that the whole place is a big 'ol playground for biking, mountain biking, hiking, skiing, swimming, and pretty much everything fun. And with the exception of one confrontational bigoted jerk-face resident we encountered (hopefully the exception that proves the rule), the people in Sandpoint were friendly and really cool.

On Monday, we drove all around the area, and up and down the mountain to Schweitzer ski resort so HH could look at some property. The morning of gaping at the views and saying a zillion times, "I like it here!" continued into the afternoon as we went for a really great hike near town, followed, of course, by a brisk (brr) open water swim in the lake and happy hour on the dock by the Cowboy Cabin.


On Tuesday and Wednesday, we biked the same trail we'd hiked on Monday and I'm quite proud to say that my mountain biking ability (and thus, enthusiasm) continued to build some momentum...I LOVED riding up and down that trail with HH and am hoping to find more stuff around home that I can ride/learn this fall. I also got in another blissful solo lake swim on Tuesday afternoon while HH continued her real estate searching... I had a blast swimming around looking at the mountains and the lake front homes and then sitting on the sunny dock soaking up some late season sun and the view.

Unfortunately, things back on the Seattle home front are shifting into fall and after less than 48 hours of driving back from Mother Nature's 2nd home (and did I mention a near-miss speeding ticket when I was driving? Shew, just a warning), the trip already seems like the distant past and a bit of a metaphor for the entire summer (kick in the Elton John soundtrack, "Don't let the su-uh-nnnnnn...go down on me....").

My friend, Heather (the other Heather), has a saying I've swiped and use frequently now about people each having a pile of wood to chop--as in dealing with their own "stuff," and the fact that we all have our own "wood to chop." It appears that dealing with the transitions of the end of this summer is my wood to chop at the moment...so, along that theme, a visual from the Cowboy Cabin below. This summer has been so so so fun...and I'm not not NOT at all happy to be letting it go...chop chop.