Ponderosa Bed & Breakfast Coeur d'Alene

My friend Diane just reminded me that I hadn't finished the story with the jade earrings. Here is a photo of the finished product. I love them. The jade is actually a very pale green color (all jade starts out white and is affected by other minerals as to the colors). The settings are silver and I am very happy with them indeed.

... br> Leaving Saturday for L.A. where I'll meet up with Terry Chamorro and stay at her place Saturday night. Sunday morning we have a 7:45am flight out of LAX which means going to the airport at 5:45am. Ungodly time. We are flying on Mexicana Airlines via Mexico City to Guatemala City.
Not exactly sure yet where we'll meet up with Rose and Jim....probably at LAX before the flight.

Finally got the truck back, all fixed and running beautifully. Decided to get on the road, though it was already 2 pm. Headed south along Flathead Lake through green forests and valleys to I-90, then west, west, west. All uphill, what a climb, to Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, then downhill into Washington State. Spent almost two hours trying to find Riverside State Park in the city of Spokane, finally set up the camper and tried to settle down for the night.

... would win a silver belt buckle. 

We have to mention at this stage and without fear of offending our American brothers and sisters how flabbergasted Ian and I were with the build up to the Mutton Bustin race.  In the ring was a fit looking cowboy who told everyone to give themselves a round of applause for being here and supporting the fair, then went on to "thank the troops abroad who were fighting to protect America and Americans right to independence, freedom and ...

The rest of the week followed the same formula except that we were riding in the adult trek in the morning.  In the afternoon you could ride again or indulge in another activity, shooting, kayaking, archery, fly-fishing.  Ian, Steve, Tim and Robert took a day out and went to Coeur d'Alene golf course (Ian to write on this) and another day left early to go fly-fishing The kids programme was also full with another afternoon on a river boat and swimming in a ...

... 3 14th which is a 170 yard (it’s on a pulley system where they can vary the length of the green from the mainland!) 7 iron onto a man made island green which you get to and from on a boat called “The Putter”. What a hole and what an amazing course. American golf at its best where they think of everything including fans on greens to cool you down and ...

... we went to the ring first to learn the basics on how to ride the horses fast.  I can honestly say I was really nervous as you tear around the ring with your reigns flapping and bottom wedged into the saddle creating a wave movement.  After ten minutes of showing Alison what we could do and her correcting us she announced we were ready to hack and we had no idea what was about to happen. 

This is a great time to ride, slightly cooler ...

... gmacht sond**n händ eifach kilomet**wiis em b**g nah däruf baut.

Churz vorem idunkle hämm** hööch üb**eme see en bär entdeckt wo det go fische isch. Er hät sini büüti as uf** bracht und gnüsslich v**schlunge. Eus hät ** üb**haupt nöd beachtet, sind v**muetlich zwiit weg gsi und drum hämm** eus mittel steiwurf (kei angscht, nöd diräkt uf ihn) für äs foti vo vorne bem**kbar gmacht. Nachh** isch ** abzottlet ...

... the kids were cooking smores (called smores from the term “do you want somemore – s’mores)  This is a gooey cocktail of charcoaled marshmellows  with a layer of chocolate wedged between two sweet biscuits  - great for the kids as they roasted their own marshmellows on twigs.  Fun evening finishing with us all crashing into the crisp linen and soft mattress after a warm, clean shower with crisp towels (things we used to take for granted. 

I'm home, safe and sound. I got to take my beloved shower last night and rest in a human-sized bed. Had some salami from Provence this morning. It was bitter-sweet. I'm very happy that I took this vacation, and thank you for reading along. I hope you enjoyed things. All that remains is to pick up Cosette (my cat) tomorrow and the trip will be officially behind me, but not soon forgotten.