Not many people are impressed when you say that you are taking a trip to "Idaho". In fact, they say, "Idaho???" But that's okay. David and I love tall trees and wild rivers, wide lakes and beautiful sites. All right, of course we would choose a trip to the Carribean if the choice was there but hey, when an opportunity like this opens up, you don't turn it down! My Uncle Jim has a beautiful condo in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho and lives in Montana with Aunt Bonnie so we decided to check it all out. Driving was a choice we made mainly so we could stop and see the sites along the way. Gotta tell ya, between Nevada and the southeast corner of Oregon, you got nada, zilch, naythin!! But we perservered and pressed on to Idaho and boy, were we rewarded! It was so beautiful. The first night we spent in Boise, which is a large city, clocking in at about 193,000 people. But even in it's bigness, we were able to find something quaint about it -- the downtown area where the Capital looms high into the sky above other historical buildings. The Starbucks there (its in one of the slideshow pictures) had to have been a tavern at one time, with it's architecture. Most of the buildings are like that, intermixed with other recognizable era buildings from the 60's and 70's. We didn't spend too much time because we were making the 7 hour trek to Coeur D'Alene that day and wanted to be able to stop along the way, but we really enjoyed it. We did go to the Idaho Discovery Center, a mini version of the SF Exploratorium (and other such places around the states). The kids loved it, looking at all of the exhibits. Most are some that they had seen before but at their age, you're always learning something new! Then we hopped in the car and headed out of town. Oh, did I mention that Emily had pink eye before we left, as well as an ear infection, and Grace appeared to me our first night out with the telltale signs of pink eye? Yeah, fun... Washing hands at every move and disinfecting everything we touched! But, we moved onward. Grace slept most of the time and Emily rocked out to Emma's Party Mix CD! The sights were so beautiful and I imagine that so much of that land has remained unchanged for 100's of years! Rivers, deep valleys, green rolling hills, old buildings, historic sites -- Idaho has it all! Heehehe! I know some of you are rolling your eyes! But, seriously, it brought out the history buff in me! We were able to spend 3 days in Coeur D'Alene and while there we checked out the resort areas, spent time in an antique store (there were tons of them!), hung out at the shores of the lake (watching all the people, including teens, smoke - lovely), rented a couple of lopsided innertubes from a country bumkin and rode down the Coeur D'Alene river, watched kids jumping off a way too high bridge, went to watch Ratatouille and basically, RELAXED!! On the third day, we trekked over to Montana to visit my aunt and uncle. They have some beautiful property there and I gotta admit, it brought me back to my childhood living in Tennessee. I felt like I could move it all there and never look back. It was a little far out for David but he's getting more and more acclimated to the country all the time. Coeur D'Alene was a little more citified. But we dreamed of what it would be like to have all that space, the pros and the cons. Everywhere we went, there is pretty much zilch in the way of shopping, limited in the way of restaurants, not a lot to do and that was apparent in what the kids were doing wherever we went. But the trade off is space, beauty, quiet, not a lot of distractions, and time moving at a slower place. Do we really need all the distractions of the city? Something to ponder. Everything is old and I loved that part. We saw structures that had to have been at least 100 years old. Early American history is evident everywhere! But there's something to be said for the smells of a new home (like my uncle's condo!), living in updated neighborhoods with cool parks and new play structures, the conveniences of a choice of stores and restaurants and things to do. Nearly every place we drove into, I would, by sight, judge if I would like to live in that place. As we approached our own city, I looked around at the hills surrounding us, the open space of the land and told David, "You know, we live in a beautiful place. If I came here for the first time, I would love it." A beautiful mix of the old and the new. We have a lot of history right here and I love learning about it. A little congested at times; long lines to wait in, yes; a certain anonymity that comes along with a lot of people living in one place. But all in all, I felt that contentedness that God gives us when He puts us in a place. I would never want to strive to be someplace where the Lord had not directed us to go. In fact, I know the challenge that comes with that. I am just so blessed to be able to visit places like these states and enjoy the time there. And when it's time to move on, God will open up the doors....