Silver Mountain

Friday, 29 August 2008

Hubby got me a card for our wedding anniversary. The kids sent us an e-card. Needless to say, we have been married a very long, long, long, long time.

We got up early on the morning of Friday, 29 August. Packed lunch & water bottles.

Loaded up bikes and drove east to Silver Mountain in Kellogg, Idaho. Stopped at Wally-World to pick up some snacks & another backpack as hubby forgot to bring ours along.

Purchased tickets at the base of the Gondola & had potty stop. We stopped to talk to a younger couple with hard-bodies who had gazillion dollar mountain bikes. They had just come down the Alhambra trail and they were both sweating. Looked like quite a workout. However, we wanted to start out gradually and decided to take the easiest trail – The Sierra Nevada Road. Which was an actual road that is used to go up the mountain.

Isabelle was great loading up on the gondola, but it is SO very hot once you are inside for the 20 minute ride up to the top. There are two very small windows and absolutely no cross ventilation.

Once we reached the top, we re-hydrated and started out on the trail. The dog was doing pretty well so far. We were braking a lot as it was all down-hill. Duh. I thought it would be more of a trail so that we could actually bike. Though the views were absolutely breath-taking, the sunshine warming us considerably, and wildlife abundant; it would not be something I would want to do again.

Stopping several times to hydrate the dog, eat snacks, and absorb the view – Isabelle finally started showing us that she was slowing down. Her leg was bothering her. We came upon some deer in the road that froze absolutely still to watch us for several minutes. I got some great pics.

After the deer sighting, I decided to bike on ahead as it did not seem we had far to finish…leaving hubby & dog to wait for me to return with the truck. It was farther than I had thought as I traveled 5 miles – including having to go on pavement thru Wardner & around the town to Kellogg. Finally arriving at our truck by cutting through the paved bike path.

I returned to pick them up and I don’t think the dog has ever been so happy to see me. She barked when I came around the corner on the edge of the mountain road – and wiggled her tail voraciously!

Greg purchased ice cream for himself & the dog in downtown Kellogg – while I ate a healthy apple!

We drove back to CDA, bought Wendy’s bacon/cheeseburgers for Isabelle (as a reward) and stopped at Sportsman’s Warehouse to buy pads & oars for the new canoe that hubby was going to pick up on the way home. He bought it for me for our anniversary as a surprise gift.

However, when we got there, the man had already sold the canoe. Boo hoo. So we will be stopping at Costco to pick up a brand new one.

Saturday 30 August 2008

We arose early and drove to Farragut Park. Got lattes at the (bad) place as our regular stand was closed. Biked around for about an hour down at the State Park. Hubby dropped me & the dog at home while he went to help Chachi build the rest of the doors for his shop.

I worked on the basement bathroom, finished faxxing history paperwork to the kid, and played with the dog while he was gone.

We watched tv when he finally returned home, then went to bed.