Roadtrip Cautions

We took a weekend trip.  In our family history, I can only remember one other time that we have left town and responsibilities for just a couple of days.   Seems that we always travel so far away that a whole week or more is necessary.  

This time we traveled just four hours away for a weekend worship conference in Coeur d'Alene.  The town is as pretty as its name.  Saturday was an all day workshop for Ashley and I while Mom and Dad discovered the sights.   When our two hour dinner break rolled around, Mom and Dad picked us up and showed us everything they had discovered that day crammed into 1 1/2 hours.  We want to go back.

a rest stop on the way not equal to the beauty of CDA

Another plus of Coeur d'Alene is that Spokane is a mere 30 minutes away.  Civilization anyone?  Shopping malls with an Apple store, restaurants such as The Old Spaghetti Factory, and a six-laned freeway bring home to mind.  We did treat Mom to lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory and dragged Dad through a torturous (for him) hour and a half at the mall.  We didn't buy accouterments, just absorbed the general atmosphere.

Welcome to Washington

The dangers of this road trip were definitely unique to northern forest climates.  You round a corner of a mountain road to be greeted by the sight of a group such as these in your lane.

taken after they kindly moved out of our lane for us

The closest encounter came on the way home at twilight, when a mule deer jumped out on the road.  He thankfully kept moving instead of looking into our headlights, otherwise there might be a new dent on our bumper.  In all, we saw:

• the above seven bighorn sheep
• about twenty mule deer in groups of one or two
• two big bucks
• about thirty white-tailed deer grazing in the ditches next to the road
• and a really cool osprey

Granted, the last one wasn't a danger, but the others all could have been.  In our former lives, we had to keep our eyes out for crazy human drivers, not suicidal animals.  

In all, it was a good weekend.  And waiting to give us hugs when we got home was this just too cute little munchkin.  

If you haven't had the opportunity just to get away for a couple of days, I highly suggest it.   No one minds feeding your dog/cat/rabbit/horse for two days and the payoff is sweet.   You don't have to plan as much as a whole week or more vacation and you can explore some of the beauty around your area.  Just find a better hotel than we did, or you will be as sleep deprived as all of us were!