Careening Around Coeur d'Alene, Idaho!

 Hello, again! It's been a while since I've written one of these--seems my life has settled back into its normal boring routine again after getting back from Colorado. My mind has not, though: I can't shake the feeling of being cooped up, and it's starting to affect me. Thus, it was time to get out and away from the LC Valley for some fresh air and new mountains. 

I didn't plan on this last weekend being anything exciting...and it really wasn't, which was perfect. I got sick on Thursday morning with some sort of stomach flu that I like to call the "stress bug," which appears without fail near the end of every semester. When I get very stressed and burnt out, my body harbors it pretty well until everything comes crashing down and I get sick. Though I haven't been nearly as stressed as I have been in the past by this point in the year, I have been struggling with finances and preparing for the next step in my adult life, which is grad school. Additionally, my mental health has presented me with things to think about and deal with that I have been quite reluctant to confront, which has been a lovely cherry atop the pie of crises I have crafted for myself. So, anyways, I spent much of Thursday and Friday in bed, hibernating away the stress bug. 

Friday afternoon, I managed to drag myself out of bed to walk through Art Under the Elms with Griffen. It was nice to enjoy the outside air, even if it was rainy and cold. We had fun sampling caramel apples, smelling soap samples, and I even got my hair done by a vendor selling hair combs. We found an artist that we both connected with and that was around our age, so we spent some time talking with her and her craft, which was refreshing. I find it quite empowering to discover other creatives that are in my same demographic. Upon leaving, I got some ice cream for Griffen, as he bought me some caramels and this adorable glass blown frog straw from a couple different vendors. It was during this time that I discovered (quite shamefully) that have been pronouncing the word "sanguine" incorrectly for probably half a decade. I have written a poem hinged around the color sanguine, and I have never said it correctly. Well, because I'm a liberal arts student and I'm always right, I quite haughtily made a bet with Griffen that he was wrong.  Griffen was, in fact, not wrong, and I was up a loss. My punishment: to do Griffen's laundry. I need to learn to stop making bets. 

Humbled by my blaring lack of knowledge regarding my own academic field, I worked on warming up from the chilly outdoors, and Griffen and I resumed watching the Star Wars series. I have never seen them before this, and that might have been the biggest road bump our relationship has ever encountered. After this weekend, I am proud to say I have now seen the three prequels. Hold your applause, please. 

On Saturday morning, I begrudgingly fulfilled my laundry IOU to Griffen while he went on a long run. I managed to get a little of my own work done, and then promptly fell asleep after folding and putting all of the little king's clothes away. I regretted the cat nap a bit after getting outside and feeling the sun; it was an amazing day. I met Dakota and her friend Kami outside to walk around Art Under the Elms some more. We quickly wandered off to Grateful Threads, which is a consignment store downtown. I had never been in there, but I could have spent so much money in there. I walked out with some fantastic little hippie pants, a summery white skirt, and a couple blouses. The pants might be my best clothes purchase ever. I enjoy looking like I only consume kombucha and lead a weekly meditation circle on Tuesday afternoons; it's quite the aesthetic. 

Back at home, Dakota and I tried to be productive and succeeded a little before being distracted and ending up outside on the ground, reading in the sun. We made some significant progress in our books, and after Dakota left, Stitch brought me the lovely gift of a slaughtered field mouse, and then she proceeded to fling it around the yard, precariously closer and closer to my reading perch. In my dad's words, "Stitch isn't completely useless anymore." I left my reading spot outside, anyways; I left Stitch to her menacing devices. 

Later that night, Dakota and I met up with some friends to watch a meteor shower. We found a nice secluded dirt road, and the moon looked great! I even got to see a pretty big meteor come through the sky. Griffen joined us later on, and we all had fun looking at the little stars we could see and joking around. We went home and crashed late at night. 

On Sunday, I got up and tutored one of my virtual students, and then Griffen and I got ready to leave on an adventure. We stopped in Moscow to pick up some friends and to grab some of my prescription medicine from the pharmacy. After grabbing Maddie and Sammy, the four of us continued up to Coeur d'Alene; we had plans to see the Little Free Library in CDA that was built into the stump of a tree and then spend the rest of the daylight hours hiking and exploring the mountains. 

The Little Free Library did not disappoint, and was even cuter in person than I would have imagined. I had bought Looking for Alaska by John Green from Walmart, and I wrote a message in it before putting it in the little tree shelves on the tiny library. Hopefully someone finds it and might even be inspired by it. 

After this, we moved onward to our first hike. This was supposed to be a 1.3 mile loop around Fernan Lake, but of course we made it more than that. After galavanting around the grasses and taking some photos of the scenery and lots of moss, Griffen led the way up a mountain, so we followed suite. It was very pretty up there, and I want to go back and see more of it. My only regret of the afternoon was that my camera died just minutes before a bald eagle perched in a tree next to us. 

The main course hike needed a bit of a dessert hike, so we ventured down to Higgen's Point, where I used my LifeStraw to drink out of the lake. Then we meandered on down the path a ways until we found Mr. Higgens himself (as a statue). He is a short little guy, but Griffen told me to give him a kiss for a picture. 

The plan was to do two short hikes and then a longer hike, but decided to scratch the longer one once we saw what downtown CDA was like; we decided we wanted to explore urban life too. However, we did not take into account that almost every business would closed, as it was 5:30 PM on a Sunday. We ventured inside a candy shop and looked around, and then eventually bought some gelato from one of the little roadside stores. At around 6:00 PM, we headed back to Moscow to drop off our friends. On the way home, we saw a big rainbow; I have never seen a rainbow be so vibrant and big. I took a couple neat photos, featuring the bunch of wildflowers that Griffen collected for me during our first hike. After stopping in Moscow, we headed back down to Lewiston, where we watched the Revenge of the Sith and then went to bed. It was a wonderful weekend! Hoping to do some more like this next weekend, too. 

 Happy trails, all! :)