It was our anniversary two weeks ago and we thought 8 fantastic years deserved 8 fantastic days of camping, golf, and rollercoasters!
Saturday and Sunday we spent in the hills of Spokane visiting they Sypherd Family. Brother Sypherd was Dana's Young Men's President when he was a teenager in Aberdeen. His three kids just all got back from missions and they had a niece and a nephew staying with them as well so it was a full house. We ate delicious authentic food from Spain, Argentina, and Mexico and caught up. Dana even squeezed in 9 holes at Hangman Golf Course with the boys. Thank you Bro. and Sis. Sypherd for taking us into your home!!
Monday we headed waaaay south to the Indian Reservation in Idaho for a day of golf at Circling Raven. First, we braved the smoke of the casino to get lunch and then headed over to the club house. Okay, side note: I wasn't hugely thrilled with the course mainly because my allergies went haywire with all the wheat but the golf carts rocked! GPS. Fly over simulations. And not gas. This is a big deal. Trust me. Dana really liked Circling Raven, though. It's one of the top 100 public courses in the country and it was really scenic. A little windy but not bad. We played with a retired couple doing a golfing trip themselves.
Crazy landscaping. Wheat fields and then big 'ol trees.
Our golfing done, we shot up to Northern Idaho (stopping in Coeur D'Alene for philly cheese steaks at The Best Sandwich Shop. No, seriously, that's the name of the sub shop. And it was yummy) and camped at Farragut State Park. Highly recommended by the Gailans. Even if there were four thousand of these curious bees that wanted to smell my left elbow (a trend which continued throughout the week. Spokane, you need to get on that bee epidemic stat!) The highlight might have been a troupe of YMCA youth showing up the second night and camping right across from us. Proof that all teenagers are goobers:)
Tuesday we tried a new activity for this husband and wife--Silverwood theme park. Probably not what you would expect since Kelli can handle about two rides before she loses her funnel cake and Dana is kinda scared of heights, but we did it anyway. We survived two of the coasters (a twirly one that neither of us liked and a wooden one that was awesome even if Dana did keep yelling at me to stop talking, stop talking. In fairness, I might have been commenting on how super high we were:) Oooh, I am evil.)
With the terrible part out of the way, we ventured over to the waterpark and did a few rides (a giant raft one where Dana's shoes got soaked, a really cool one in a dark tunnel that had an hour wait, and those racing tubes where you keep trying to anticipate when you'll hit the bottom so you can hold your breath only you can't see anything because you're going so fast so you take a breath too early and then suck in a bunch of water. Oh you haven't been on that ride? Lucky you. Also, not so awesome with glasses on.) We hit up the lazy river as well and then cooled down with a magic show and a train ride. The magic show had doves and a magician who reminded us of Gob on Arrested Development. Fun fact: the engine pulling the train is really old and originally Disney World tried to buy it but Silverwood out bid them and it was the first ride in the park.
After another relaxing night around the campfire we woke up, tore down camp, and headed back to Spokane for another day of, you guessed it, golf!
Indian Canyon in Spokane is the most beautiful course I have been on to date. Okay, the carts are gas which I hate and I thought we might die going down the steep hills sometimes but it was really and truly the prettiest place on earth with deep valleys and huge trees and no wind.
Again, we got matched with some funny retiree couples who really took to Dana. One guy was 82 and still golfing!
Ooops, not all fun and games. Dana hit this one out of the deep trees only to realize it wasn't his ball:)
Such a gorgeous day and a fabulous course! And next time we go I'll know to search the 17th hole for a few spare golf balls. One of the other wives found 21 balls in the woods!!! That night we checked into a hotel because my philosophy was that I could do camping for two days at a time if we squeezed a comfy bed and warm shower in-between. Turns out it was my best idea ever. We watched a few episodes of Duck Dynasty (love!) and then headed out for food in downtown Spokane. Along the way we found a big red wagon. I want this kid. Seriously, I hope our kids are half so cool. No, not the one on the slide, check out the one on the tire:)
Oh wait, I already have that kid. Looking good babe.
Eventually, we left the playground and found pizza and ice cream. Then back to the hotel for some zzzsss. Thursday was, no, no, not golf people, seriously that's just too much. No, it was my day. Shopping. Serious shopping. No pictures because I was too busy shopping. Don't feel too bad for Dana, we wandered by a Dick's Sporting Goods and suddenly an hour of my shopping day was gone:) I found some cute jeans and a visor and a necklace.
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| This is pitcher rock formation. Yeah, I don't see it either. |
Since shopping can only take so long, we got to our Spokane campground early. It was the Bowl and Pitcher and again highly recommended even if it was 9 billion degrees without a breeze. That turned out to be a good thing since we weren't allowed campfires (say
what!) but we didn't need one for warmth. I read my new book, World War Z (thanks Sarah for the recommendation, it was awesome) while Dana took a hike into the hills. Then we settled in for dinner and cobbler. Turns out dutch oven cobbler needs coals to work and coals are like little fires, so we fudged the ranger rules a little and had a tense 20 minutes while our coals sent up a blaze that I was sure could be seen from space but eventually they went white and made us the most delicious 7-up lemon peach dessert. And the ranger was none the wiser. Insert "Breaking the Law" song here while I dance.
The next morning, we made an executive decision: even though we'd slept great and had the spot reserved for another night, we decided to break camp and head home a day early. Camping just needs a fire and we were both feeling pretty jazzed about sleeping in our bed that night. So we picked up camp and...went golfing of course:) Had to squeeze one more in. Probably my least favorite but still a nice course. Qualchan. Yeah, weird name. But hey, cool geese.
Dana played really well and the course did have some seriously weird blind corners, including one hole where there was a tv mounted inside a box so you could see if the team ahead of you was in the fairway. Too bad the tv was seriously old and all I could see was static. Swing away boys. Part of the dislike might have been our strange partner who turned out to be a guy who went to Dana's high school. Coulda been cool, but sadly wasn't. Oh well. A good day of golf and I think Dana's had his fill for oh about a day or so. We snagged lunch at Qdoba (yum!) and headed home. And that's where the adventure really begins folks because we grabbed a movie, and a mini murphy pizza for dana (cookie dough for me-hey, it's still vacation, don't judge) and then pulled into our beloved garage and walked inside and went, 'ewww what's so stinky'?
This people. This is what's so stinky.
Yup, our fridge went out sometime during our vacation. Law of the universe, I think. So our plan derailed as we cleaned up raw chicken and milk and nevermind you don't wanna know. Turns out vinegar is the magic weapon for the smell. Horrible experience but we had a few small miracles:
-a warm night equaled open windows which meant less stink
-a recent camping trip meant leftover charcoal to suck up the smell
-a sweet, patient husband cancelled out one ticked off lunatic wife
- And the biggest miracle turned out to be pizza and cookies--which can cancel out any bad smell.
So that was our trip. A super blast and a not so fun surprise at the end. Here's to 8 more amazing years babe (and a new fridge! Huzzah!)
