Spring Break 2009: Part I
So I got back from spring break about a week ago. I took March 4th through the 15th to do a little traveling out West, and it was interesting to say the least. My first leg of the trip was Spokane, Washington. A trip I made with my sister to go visit cousin Chad. [for my own purposes, I'm going to do a day-by-day account].
Wednesday 3/4: Kerry and I flew out of GR Airport at 8:00 pm and flew to Minneaplis and after an hour layover to Spokane. We got in [on our time about 2 AM] at 11PM. We drove back to Matt and Jill's house [where Chad is shacking up] and were up until [4AM] 1AM discussing plans for our days.
Thursday 3/5: Kerry and I slept in until [1 PM] 11 AM. We had a small breakfast and waited for Chad to get back from work. He arrived a little after 1 pm and from there we went for a little drive in search of a place called Green Blough. There were some really nice views of the mountains and we even found some really cute orchards for Chad to frequent in the spring/summer when they're actually open again. And, of course, as soon as we got to the mountains, my batteries in my camera died. After we drove around for a while we went to the REI store. I ended up spending $100 on a pair of nice hiking boots, a new hat, smart wool socks, and lithium batteries. We went to this really neat little grocery store/gas station that carried only organic goods. I wasn't surprised at Chad's food store selection since he's such a damn dirty hippie [haha]. We got some veggies and then we stopped at a meat market and got some steaks. I was in charge of cutting up the potatoes. Chad insisted that they be cut super thin so that they baked up correctly, and of course in my efforts to follow directions, I cut my finger. Anyway, the food made it to the table sans blood and we had a really nice meal. Kerry and I were introduced to an Australian treat that is a substitute for Ketchup. You mix sweet chili sauce and sour cream together and then dip your thin cut, seasoned, baked potatoes and dip them in it. Pretty tasty if I do say so myself!
Friday 3/6: We had to get up early because we were hanging with Chad for the day. First, we went and had breakfast with Chad's friend Marianne. Marianne is an older lady, probably around my mothers age, and is one of the coolest people I've met. She moved to the US when she was either 22 or 23 with $75 in her pocket. In fact, she lived in Ann Arbor the first year or two she was here. She's moved all over the country and has literally traveled all over the world. It was a neat experience talking with her, but our visit was a bit short lived. Chad had some work he had to do at the office, so Kerry and I went to the art fair. It was boasted as the largest art fair in the country. That was definately a lie! Not that I've been to bigger, but I've been to art fairs the same size easily. The first booth we stopped at was a paper flower thing, and they were super pretty [and super expensive] and Kerry and I both ended up buying one. And besides some organic honey and soup for Chad, thats all we purchased there. Then, we sat and waited for Chad for over an hour to come pick us up. It was in this time that I found a little stand with those pamphlets that advertise little towns and things to do in the surrounding areas. I grabbed a few and we looked through them while we waited. Chad finally came and got us and then we started our canvassing journey with Chad. Kerry and I were employed by Chad to help him canvas for Envision Spokane. This is a pretty large project that a
lawyer has undertaken not only here, but in other parts of the country as well. From what I understand, he started it in Pennsylvania and that case has the possibility of making it to the Supreme Court. Anyway, its pretty interesting, especially if you're at all interested in politics, because its actually trying to bring real democracy back to the people. I suggest checking it out! Anyway, we spent the entire afternoon canvassing a neighborhood. We were pretty parched and hungry from walking around, so we went to a bar downtown and had a beer and some water. As soon as Matt and Jill were home from work, we met them for dinner at the Bulls Head [a little bar/resturaunt reminiscient of an English pub]. I was a bit disappointed with my food, but oh well. Afterwards we went and played pool at another bar. The first game we played, and my first or second shot, I ended up putting the 8 ball in by accident. 
I didn't even see it, and apparently neither did Chad or Matt. So, Kerry and Jill sneakily retrieved it and put it back on the table and neither of them had any idea of what happened until we were leaving and Kerry told Chad. Well, Matt and Jill were on a team and then it was Chad, Kerry, and I as the opposition. We won all 3 or 4 games we played. I even redeemed myself at the end by sinking the last 2 shots of the final game for the win! Saturday 3/7: Skiing/Snowboarding Day! I was so excited about this chance to get out on the slopes for the first time in three years! I know I was way over confident going into it, as I'd only been snowboarding once before, but I figured it would be like riding a bike! We headed to Chewelah, WA which is home to 49 Degrees North! Well, after spending $36 on a lift pass and 
rental, we headed over to the bunny hill. The first run for me took quite a while. I am pretty sure I fell every ten feet as I was trying to get my body used to the feeling and balance of turning and stopping. Not a pretty sight. The second run down was a bit better. I made it at least 50 feet between each fall! And, I was actually getting a lot better at stopping both toe and heel directions! It was encouraging! However, by the time we made it down the second time, it was time for us to go check in with Matt, Jill, and Jill's cousins who came up for the day to partake in the activities. Of course, both of her cousins were on the Michigan State Ski team, so I felt like a bit of an idiot. Oh well. Chad decided he wanted more of a challenge, so he went to do some normal hill runs with them while Kerry graciously said she'd stay with me on the bunny hill. Let me just add here that this bunny hill was probably 3/4 of the size of the normal sized ski hills at home in Michigan. This looked like a mountain compared to the bunny hill at Bittersweet. I digress. So, I'm about a third of the way down the hill. I took a spill and it knocked the wind out of me. I got up and made it a few more feet and I decided to try and slow down/stop using the toe technique [or facing up the hill]. Well, I was going a bit fast and as I slowed down I lost my balance and fell 
forward [but facing up the hill]. I caught myself and then my eyes tightened as the pain in my elbow became more than evident. I quickly rolled over and laid on my back. I laid there for quite a while. Kerry was long gone at this point as she had already gotten the hang of her ski's and was pretty damn good at cutting the slope. I finally decided to get up and just try to get down the hill. I was crying a bit at this point. I was so ridiculously nervous about falling again. I made it a little bit and then decided to fall again, just so that I would slow down. I was hurting too bad to try and concentrate on trying to slow down properly. I sat there for a minute trying to muster up the courage to get up and go again. It probably took me about 20 minutes to get the rest of the way down the hill. I finally made it and told Kerry that I was done for the day. She was a good big sister and said we should go hang out in the lodge then, but I told her to get back up there and go 
down some more, that I was just going to chill while she skiied some more. We didn't spend all of this money to get three runs out of it [well, at least she didn't]. Anyway, we met back up with Chad, Matt and Jill and Kerry went with them down one of the easier "real" runs on the mountain. I turned in my gear and went and sat in the lodge with a hot chocolate. We headed back to the cars, shared a beer, then headed home. I took a shower since I felt pretty disgusting. Jill, Kerry and I worked on a puzzle that they had out on a table for a while. I've never been into puzzles, but this one was pretty damn addicting. I think puzzles might be addicting for me. Getting a piece to fit is way to exciting. Anyway, we had a nice dinner, and then I decided to turn in for the night. Jill's cousins, even though they were the same age as me, were a bit annoying and I was tired. I figured out quickly that it hurt most when I tried to open a door, or rotate it from side to side. My arm was hurting, and I just decided to be lame and turn in early.
rental, we headed over to the bunny hill. The first run for me took quite a while. I am pretty sure I fell every ten feet as I was trying to get my body used to the feeling and balance of turning and stopping. Not a pretty sight. The second run down was a bit better. I made it at least 50 feet between each fall! And, I was actually getting a lot better at stopping both toe and heel directions! It was encouraging! However, by the time we made it down the second time, it was time for us to go check in with Matt, Jill, and Jill's cousins who came up for the day to partake in the activities. Of course, both of her cousins were on the Michigan State Ski team, so I felt like a bit of an idiot. Oh well. Chad decided he wanted more of a challenge, so he went to do some normal hill runs with them while Kerry graciously said she'd stay with me on the bunny hill. Let me just add here that this bunny hill was probably 3/4 of the size of the normal sized ski hills at home in Michigan. This looked like a mountain compared to the bunny hill at Bittersweet. I digress. So, I'm about a third of the way down the hill. I took a spill and it knocked the wind out of me. I got up and made it a few more feet and I decided to try and slow down/stop using the toe technique [or facing up the hill]. Well, I was going a bit fast and as I slowed down I lost my balance and fell 
forward [but facing up the hill]. I caught myself and then my eyes tightened as the pain in my elbow became more than evident. I quickly rolled over and laid on my back. I laid there for quite a while. Kerry was long gone at this point as she had already gotten the hang of her ski's and was pretty damn good at cutting the slope. I finally decided to get up and just try to get down the hill. I was crying a bit at this point. I was so ridiculously nervous about falling again. I made it a little bit and then decided to fall again, just so that I would slow down. I was hurting too bad to try and concentrate on trying to slow down properly. I sat there for a minute trying to muster up the courage to get up and go again. It probably took me about 20 minutes to get the rest of the way down the hill. I finally made it and told Kerry that I was done for the day. She was a good big sister and said we should go hang out in the lodge then, but I told her to get back up there and go 
down some more, that I was just going to chill while she skiied some more. We didn't spend all of this money to get three runs out of it [well, at least she didn't]. Anyway, we met back up with Chad, Matt and Jill and Kerry went with them down one of the easier "real" runs on the mountain. I turned in my gear and went and sat in the lodge with a hot chocolate. We headed back to the cars, shared a beer, then headed home. I took a shower since I felt pretty disgusting. Jill, Kerry and I worked on a puzzle that they had out on a table for a while. I've never been into puzzles, but this one was pretty damn addicting. I think puzzles might be addicting for me. Getting a piece to fit is way to exciting. Anyway, we had a nice dinner, and then I decided to turn in for the night. Jill's cousins, even though they were the same age as me, were a bit annoying and I was tired. I figured out quickly that it hurt most when I tried to open a door, or rotate it from side to side. My arm was hurting, and I just decided to be lame and turn in early.Sunday 3/8: Kerry, Chad and I got up early and headed to Couer d'Alene, Idaho. From a few people's explanations, its like Traverse City with mountains. Anyway, since it was supposed to be such a c
ute little town, we were expecting there to be mom and pop greasy spoons to grab a good breakfast. Well, apparently they don't have those in downtown Couer d'Alene. It was pretty disappointing! We drove out of town and found a decent little place and had a nice breakfast. After that we went back downtown and did a little antiqueing. There were some cute little gems, but no one really found anything that we thought we couldn't live without. The last place we went in was a "fine art and antiques" place, so we knew that we weren't the right demographic this place was trying to attract. We went in anyway, and its a good thing we did. The lady that owned it was super nice and told us about a few places where there were some biking and hiking trails. We headed to one of them called Tubbs Hill and went to the top. It was really nice. Absolutely gorgeous scenery. I was wearing my new hiking boots and being new 
shoes, I wasn't very steady in thin snow with them. I was pretty convinced I was going to fall. Coming down was even worse. But I made it down successfully without biting the dust! Then we hopped in the car and headed for Wallace, Idaho! We found this place in one of the brochures that I grabbed at the art fair. The draws were that it was an old mining town, "The Center of the Universe", a bordello museum, and they refused to divide the town by running the expressway through it, so they built the expressway up and over it. Well, we figured we'd mozey on over in that direction since it was only about 25 minutes from Couer d'Alene. We got there, drove around the three blocks it entailed, and realized that absolutely NOTHING in "The Center of the Universe" was open on Sunday! It was pretty crazy. The small mining museum which also fronted as a tourist info center was closing at 3:00, which was 2 minutes after our arrival. We talked to this old guy who was in there for a while. He used to be a scientist and then one day decided that he didn't want to do that anymore. So he moved to Wallace and spends most of his time skiing. Then, as we were leaving and driving through town again, I noticed these signs on every corner of this one intersection. So we got out and took our photo opportunity! Here is my documentation that I have been, indeed, to "The Center of the Universe"!
ute little town, we were expecting there to be mom and pop greasy spoons to grab a good breakfast. Well, apparently they don't have those in downtown Couer d'Alene. It was pretty disappointing! We drove out of town and found a decent little place and had a nice breakfast. After that we went back downtown and did a little antiqueing. There were some cute little gems, but no one really found anything that we thought we couldn't live without. The last place we went in was a "fine art and antiques" place, so we knew that we weren't the right demographic this place was trying to attract. We went in anyway, and its a good thing we did. The lady that owned it was super nice and told us about a few places where there were some biking and hiking trails. We headed to one of them called Tubbs Hill and went to the top. It was really nice. Absolutely gorgeous scenery. I was wearing my new hiking boots and being new 
shoes, I wasn't very steady in thin snow with them. I was pretty convinced I was going to fall. Coming down was even worse. But I made it down successfully without biting the dust! Then we hopped in the car and headed for Wallace, Idaho! We found this place in one of the brochures that I grabbed at the art fair. The draws were that it was an old mining town, "The Center of the Universe", a bordello museum, and they refused to divide the town by running the expressway through it, so they built the expressway up and over it. Well, we figured we'd mozey on over in that direction since it was only about 25 minutes from Couer d'Alene. We got there, drove around the three blocks it entailed, and realized that absolutely NOTHING in "The Center of the Universe" was open on Sunday! It was pretty crazy. The small mining museum which also fronted as a tourist info center was closing at 3:00, which was 2 minutes after our arrival. We talked to this old guy who was in there for a while. He used to be a scientist and then one day decided that he didn't want to do that anymore. So he moved to Wallace and spends most of his time skiing. Then, as we were leaving and driving through town again, I noticed these signs on every corner of this one intersection. So we got out and took our photo opportunity! Here is my documentation that I have been, indeed, to "The Center of the Universe"!
We drove back to Washington, made one final dinner, and spent the evening playing Fill or Bust and putting that damn puzzle together. Kerry and I packed our stuff up and hit the hay.
Monday 3/9: We got up in the morning, Chad took us over to have breakfast with Marianne again and he headed to work. We had a very pleasant morning chatting with Marianne and she told us about this trip she's taking to go swim with whales off of some tiny little island by Tahiti. After we were there for a while, she took us to the airport to catch our flights. Kerry headed back to GR and I was on my way to Salt Lake City, Utah where I would then hop a shuttle bus and head up to Pocatello, Idaho for the next adventure of my trip.
