How's that for a view from your back yard? That's exactly what we were fortunate enough to be faced with during the recent Thanksgiving holiday. We spent a couple of days of the four day weekend at a friend's parents place about three and a half hours northeast of Boise, and just north of a town called Riggins (if you happen to have a map handy).
The weather wasn't the most cooperative it's ever been, but I'm hoping you can at least get some idea of how the country looks from the photos I've posted. It's actually all very young, geologically speaking, and all the wrinkles and folds reminded me of a piece of fabric or a handkerchief left lying on a table. The area is at a much lower elevation than Boise, so it's actually a little milder in the winter, but it's still desert and still very brown most of the year. That green patch at the front of the photo that looks like it drops off suddenly? It does....
Our hosts, Nancy and Bruce, are a delightful couple. I think they would get on very well with Mum and Dad. They are mad keen keen collectors, and their house is full of family things and things they've come across over the years. Their interests run the gamut, from china and porcelain dolls, to books, toys, and glassware. Bruce has some nifty old tools - but it seems I remember a lot of them (like the brace and bit) from my childhood!
Nancy is a sculptor and has done some lovely figures, including a spitting image of their daughter, and our friend, Karen when she was a child (cheeky thing she was... and is). She has a large cast bronze piece in a park in a town called Lewiston, but we haven't seen it yet. Bruce was a forest service employee until he retired, which might explain why they have this in their yard...
It's an old fire lookout tower that they got from the forest service. The area still has a lot of them, apparently, and some are still in use. Others have been converted to accommodation for people to stay in.
Thanksgiving dinner was a cooperative effort. Starr, Karen's partner, baked a turkey and made a cranberry sauce I think she should become famous for - it has cranberries, a wee bit of sugar, lemon zest and mint in it. Most delicious, although Daniel, as our resident cranberry disliker, would probably disagree. Nancy made a rice and sausage meat stuffing and steamed some pumpkin from her garden, while I brought some salmon dip and cheese stuff to have for nibblies, and a green bean casserole (very traditional) for mains. There was probably other stuff, too, but I can't think of it right now. I think Daniel topped us all, though, with two delicious pies - one pecan and one apple. They were demolished in short order, let me tell you!
I love Thanksgiving!
The day after Thanksgiving, we drove to Pittsburg Landing, which is a boat launching area in Hells Canyon, the deepest canyon in North America (deeper than the Grand Canyon). The weather still wasn't cooperating, but we wandered around a bit nonetheless and I saw enough to know that I'd like to go back when the wildflowers are in bloom.
We walked a couple of k's to take a look at some petroglyphs that were made by Native Americans somewhere between 2-7,000 years ago, although no-one's really sure. Unfortunately, it was nigh on dark when we got there, although Daniel did manage to get a photo of this particularly clear one.
Here's the view from the backyard on the Saturday morning before we made the trek back to Boise. Beautiful isn't it?
And I couldn't finish this post without introducing you to Sadie, the English laborador. She was absolutely delighted to see us, unlike the cat, a large ginger tabby called Herbert (short for Orange Sherbet), who manged to avoid us quite successfully. Sadie is a very perky girl, and very good at rolling over for a belly scratch!
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