Schweitzer Summer Celebration

On the last day of June we headed up to Schweitzer mountain for Summer Celebration! I'm one of those rare people (especially around here!) who prefers grass to snow and summer to winter. I have to confess we didn't make it to the mountain this winter even thought we live in a ski resort town. I guess it wasn't among the reasons for choosing Sandpoint when we were moving, so I don't feel bad about missing the ski season. I still want to try it at some point, maybe next year... maybe..  

The cutest acorn pin from my friend Missy

How many ground squirrels do you see? 

But this summer we finally got to the top and awed to the spectacular views: you can see Sandpoint, Lake Pend Oreille, Montana and even Canada from there! Their Summer Celebration was so much fun, too! I'll just list a few things: free chairlift rides, live music, a food and art market, and lots of wild and not so wild animals. 

After we'd spent enough time at the top, we were trying to decide how to get back to the village: on the chairlift or just by hiking down the mountain like many people did.. we chose the lazy way and were enjoying the views going down when we saw the following:

On the trail on one side we saw a guy mountain biking downhill, and on another side running towards him was a bear! A pretty big bear! It all happened so fast: they just missed each other and the bear ran off as quickly as possible, everyone on the chairlift just went: "Wooooooooow!" That was when I realized that the lazy decision isn't always the bad one.

Even writing all of this now, sorting out and uploading the photos, I'm feeling so excited and happy to be in this amazing place, stunning nature and with the great people who surround me. I want to wish everyone a very happy and fun 4th of July! It's going to be a double celebration for us: Ben and I packed and hopped on a plane towards our new life exactly a year ago.

Happy and Merry Fourth!

Farragut State Park

There is so much going on every day in summer (and wherever I go I have at least one camera with me) that I end up not having time to post about all of the wonderful places we visit, people we meet and things we do! I can't complain, though, I like this kind of life. Today I want to share the photos from a trip we took last weekend to Farragut State Park - it's only 26 miles down south of Sandpoint, which makes for a perfect adventure with limited driving.

This Idaho state park is located on the southern tip of the Lake Pend Oreille and it used to be a WWII era naval training station: there is still a museum and a few architectural objects in the woods from that time. Other than that, there are plenty of camping sites, we spotted a few cute cabins right at the tip overlooking the lake and the mountains (as Liz Lemon would say: "I want to go to there!"), even camping places for people with llamas! I mean, traveling and camping with llamas - it must be the best thing ever! 

Well, at least we want to try and rent a cabin there. There is a big lawn in front of the cabins where I want to put a few soft blankets on the ground and do Idaho stargazing at night. I'm usually not brave enough to stay in the woods/mountains with wild animals and lay there watching the stars. But in this case it's ideal: the sky is clear in the park, there are no city lights, cars or other civilization messes, and at the same time, I'm not too far from the people and the cabins! I really hope we can fit this little adventure into our schedules, maybe in August or early September. It's hard to tell since we have so many plans and adventures in mind for this season.

Mineral Point Trail

Hike // Mineral Point Trail No. 82 near Garfield Bay; Ben's backpack // c/o Valentich Bags

It was one of the best days so far this spring, very sunny and warm. We couldn't decide what to do but didn't want to just stay inside in such a perfect weather. I was trying to convince Ben to go to some waterfalls but after reading about that place online we quickly realized that there wasn't any official public access. A bit disappointed, we opened Sandpoint Online and just looked on a map of Lake Walks, found the closest one that we haven't hiked yet and quickly packed into the car.

The drive down there along the shore of Lake Pend Oreille with music and cold coffee was nice itself, but the trail exceeded all of my expectations. It's absolutely fantastic: the views are gorgeous, flowers are everywhere, it smells like pine trees in the afternoon sunshine, there is even a hidden beach and a campground! This hike stole my heart! Now I'm dreaming of a camping trip there later in the summer, watching the sunset and the sunrise, eating wild strawberries off the mountain slopes and just escaping from everyone for a weekend. What a perfect place! I guess I shouldn't advertise for it too much, and better keep it secret :-)

embracing the last days of winter

Thank you all for your wonderful comments here on the blog, especially on this post! I love reading your thoughts and ideas, I feel so grateful for having such thoughtful readers! Last Saturday I woke up in the morning and felt like I really needed to go outside. I didn't want our regular coffee shop date, no lemon cake, no road trips, no shopping - I just wanted to go walking in the woods and mountains. I really miss summer and all the fun hikes, picnics and adventures. 

I put on Ben's wool sweater that my parents gave him for his birthday a year ago. It brought back so many good family memories. We walked on a snowy trail, no one was around, it was very quiet and calm, and smelled so wonderfullн! When we came home I filled our bath with hot water and lavender foam, lit a candle, grabbed a book and took an hour alone. Ben played some nice music and even brought me a glass of wine. It felt pretty good and recharging. I hope to go more outside every week, we're thinking of taking Sonya bunny on walks again as it gets warmer.

*are we friends on Instagram? find me at @chestnutmocha*

an evening on Gold hill

Gold Hill is a mountain that overlooks Lake Pend d'Oreille and Sandpoint, Idaho.  From the viewpoint near the top of the trail there's a great view of the whole lake and "The Long Bridge" which is a two-mile bridge across the lake.  When I was in high school I ran cross country, and we used to run up to the top of the trail twice a week.  I'm not as in shape as I was then, so I think that would be pretty hard now, but I had gotten used to it then and I always had a good time jogging and talking with friends on the way. 

We didn't quite make it up to the viewpoint on our walk this time because it was getting dark.  We'll have to go again another day.  It's a relatively warm, rainy November and everything is still kind of green.  We took lots of pictures of ferns and moss.  There are also some neat rocks that overhang the trail.  We took our new backpack with us again!

And here are Katie's cool new boots:

Mushroom!

The lake:

Driving home...