Our Idaho trip; Day two (The Fam)

Our second day of vacation took us through beautiful northern Idaho. We passed field upon field of rolling golden wheat against a blue sky on a two lane highway. It was so bright and the sense of harvest was pregnant in the air. After dropping down into Lewiston and then on to Grangeville, we found ourselves along the Salmon River. After one look I recognized it: the white sandy banks, the deep blue, the rocky gorges and the swift rapids... I had been on that river when I was 10! OK, maybe not this particular fork that skirted the highway, but at least one very similar. --When I was 10 my family joined our good friends the Sniders (no immediate connection to Dave) and the Dalleys and my Grandma and Grandpa Armfield to ride the Salmon River in Idaho for a week. I remember sleeping in sleeping bags on the sand under the stars and spotting my first satellite. I remember horse flies and bees and cooking out and no bathrooms and an old ghost town up the bank. As I kept gazing at this beautiful river and seeing large rafts of people swimming, lots of images came back. I remember floating along in my oversized orange lifejacket with my shoes on. I remember the inflatable tahiti canoes we would take turns riding in, I remember the scary fun rapids, and now I marvel that my mom and grandparents were such good sports.

The road was so curvy coming into Riggins and out again, but it was stunning to follow the rivers.

We stopped at New Meadows and tanked up, then I drove the rest of the way down 95 to Homedale. We actually made pretty good time on such a narrow road, and I was happy to see country I'd never seen. Dave's voice kept petering out as he tried to read to the boys and soon all three were sleeping deeply as the foliage turned from green to brown to dessert and sage and large hills.

We were greeted by Charlie and Judy and Judy's sisters Carol and Cathy and her husband Chet.

It took us a while to get to setting up our tents as there was much talking to do.

Oh my did we ever eat well down there. Judy had planned every meal with such care and preparation, it was like having a national holiday feast each meal. Scrumptious sandwiches, salads, dishes and treats.

The boys were pretty excited to watch Gramps and Grams TV and use their wii. I think they could have easily done that all day every day if we hadn't pulled them out to go walk or swim. Their only consolation in going to Caldwell was their Star Wars lego they bought with their US birthday money.

It was fun to celebrate Dave's birthday again with his family and all the women went together to buy him and original pottery pie pan from Homedale drugstore.

But most of all I enjoyed seeing the boys interact with the family.

It was a special place to be and again we had a beautiful view of the sky through our see-through tent.