Seattle to Lucile, ID - Reluctant Return - 05.03.23
There’s a thing about the Pacific Coast… I don’t want to pull myself away from it. From Big Sur… all the way to the Olympic Peninsula. Smitten is the word… maybe.
The Pacific Coast: “what do you want to eat for lunch?”
Me: “whatever you want to eat for lunch” (elbows on the table and face in hands, staring intently). Ok… ok… shake it off! More places to be in the world than the SPacific Coast.
Anywho, I was supposed to take a right turn at Eugene, OR and found myself driving North on the I-5 to spend a couple of nights in one of my fav places… The Seattle. Wildlife photographer, resin artist extraordinaire, mapper of cool coffee places, MsCoffeeSandy… was kind enough to take a day off from the J-O-B to do a 15,000 step birding tour of North Lake Washington. Yup… I love the nature in Seattle and you don’t go far to find it. Nature, coffee and birds… 15,000 steps of…
I like the misty weather of Seattle… but I truly don’t understand the population of folks that insist on wearing cotton hoodies in the rain. I continue to hear the “only tourist have umbrellas!” I wore my rain jacket my last evening there and it was soaked when I got home. I’ve concluded that the lack of smiles in the Seattle area is directly related to soggy cold cotton hoodies... and heavy peer pressures of not wanting to be called a “tourist.” Be brave people! In Portland they walk around with Hello Kitty umbrellas just for fun… and don’t even care what anyone else thinks.
Anybloop… I have an umbrella and a rain jacket and I will use them when I live in Seattle… call me a “tourist” all day long…
Enough about the Pacific NorthWest already!!! This post is about something else… there’s a lot of cool stuff on the way to Taos… and here it is:
The Idaho Chronicles.
There’s a point in Washington where the mountains end and the plains begin. There’s a whole lot of farm, orchard, vineyards and wheat fields. The wheat fields… they just go on forever. There’s beauty in all places… but the monotony of the continuously repeating landscape is hypnotic. I’ll see a shiny thing off in the distance and finally… something exciting! Well… not really… but something besides wheat.
There was a moment that I didn’t know what State I was in. I was positive it was either Washington, Oregon or Idaho… didn’t matter… lots of driving and many shiny things on the horizon. And for the record… I was still in WA.
I had picked a pit stop location the night before. There’s a place in Lucile, ID that had a Shepard’s Wagon I could rent. It’s my accommodation of choice when I’m on the road. When I arrived, there was an entire compound of sheep wagons, vintage trailers, gardens, bees, chickens… all right on the Salmon River. Apparently a large group had just left so I had the joint to myself less one caretaker.
In the evening I strolled to the bridge in town and there was an Osprey nest on top. The Osprey was circling above which was super cool but thoughts of a talon hitting the back of my head and puncturing my brain had me moving along quick like.
This area is just loaded with birds… of all kinds. It must be an ideal environment. I sat by my wagon eating baba ghanoush I had brought from the big city… and watched the grouse run around. First one… then five… then a dozen… then tens of thousands… what hell?!? I thought they were going to carry me away or steal my car. There was a point in the morning that there were so many bird noises that it was deafening. “Shut up for 5 minutes…for fk sake”
The place had eggs for sale (of course they did) and a ton of can goods and a bunch of other hand made items. I bought some marmalade, eggs and chapstick… and boogied.
One can never have too many chapsticks… I lose them left and right… and in some bizarre mystery of the universe… they all show up at once. All of them!! Even the one I had in high school…
There’s a Buddhist thing about expectations and cravings… they are the source of suffering. Revisiting places that you’ve had an awesome experience is setting the bar high… and a formula for some disappointment. I was in McCall, ID and Gold Fork Hot Springs 2 years ago and the day was as good as it gets. Breakfast at Cafe 6 three 4, playing Lord Huron, filled with lovely people… Gold Fork had just reopened from COVID and I had the place to myself… with the exception of one employee. Wow…
Thus… treat all experiences as new experiences… and be mindful of the place and time. And this time would be different than the last. This time… McCall is still locked in ice… it’s a summer camp destination and there’s little population… there’s no buzz around… which is fine. My breakfast at 6-3-4 still rocked. The people were nice and totally adorbs. I drove to Gold Fork Hot Springs and there were only 4 other people there. The same employee that was there last time was cleaning the pools. He’s totally zen’d out from working there and we had another enjoyable conversation. And zen for me.
So… all that stuff I said about being cautious about expectations… bullshit! You can totally go home again! McCall and Gold Fork rocked… again! And I smiled all the way to Boise after.
I landed just South of Boise… did some laundry… chatted with my nice host… ate pizza… had Breaky with BoiseRachel… and didn’t take a single picture in town.
It’s a long haul through the expanse of the Salt Lake City Metropolitan area. My Ogden pal was not available so I only stopped for gas. There’s a hot springs hike south of Provo… it had snow and I have all my gear with me… but I ran out of time. Next time.
I picked a spot on the map that I knew I’d be tired of driving for the day… and that spot is called Helper, UT. I have never heard of it but I’m staying in the old Sinclair Gas Station… And that is how the next story begins…
Seattle with CoffeeSandy
Lucille, ID, McCall, Gold Fork Hot Springs
