A Trip to Idaho for Christmas

My husband and I spent Christmas in Idaho with his family. No, I did not "eat a potato". This is cattle country, not potato country. And I actually spent much of my time in Washington state, because the town Marc grew up in is right on the Idaho/Washington border.

Here's a journal of each day and what I did. It's honestly pretty boring, and I'm not sure you're up to the read...

Enjoy. :)




Day One

Today, we traveled  We got up at 4 am, and left Moose Jaw for Regina. Our plan was to stay up until we left, but we both passed out for a few hours. Our flight didn't leave until 7:40, but it was international, so we had to be early, and the weather was bad yesterday, so we left extra early. The roads were fine, really, until we got to Regina, but the traffic was so light it was all good. I had a great first airport experience. I've only ever been to the airport to drop people off and pick people up. I've never seen the other half, so every little mundane step was a little exciting to me.

Security was good. Marc got the random selection where he was just that one lucky person who got to choose the pat-down, or the swab. He chose the swab, so the airport agent had to swab everything Marc owned, and his hands and stuff. I'm glad he went first, not me. I would have freaked out a little. Then, we got through, got our stuff, found our gate, and waited. For more than two hours at this point. We finally got to board, at which point my body started freaking out. My mind was fine, but I was not. On the plane, Marc said I looked pale. I didn't want him to know, but my heart was racing, my hands were shaking, and my vision was blurring slightly. I took Gravol, and chewed gum. Honestly, though, 90% of the flight, I was just fine. I even got up to go to the bathroom.

We had two friendly flight attendants, whom we chatted with. The whole crew (all four of them) were from Denver, where we were headed. The stewardess assured me that the pilots were well-experienced and we would be fine. We really were. I freaked out when we started taking off, but until we started landing, it was just like being on a bus. Mild car-sickness, no wifi, and lots of boredom.

Landing, was scary. The weather was pretty bad in Denver, so there was turbulence, and turns and that downward motion. I was freaking out. And nauseous as all-get-out. Thing is, my ears have a hard time popping. I live in Saskatchewan. Them ears ain't used to them hill things. I always have to chew gum or drink something every time we drive through Buffalo Pound, or to Qu'appelle Valley. So my ears were having a hell of a time with the landing and take off, so I chewed gum non-stop. Other thing is, chewing gum upsets my stomach. I'm not a big gum-chewer, so my tummy isn't used to it. Whenever I chew gum for more than a few minutes, I start to feel nauseous and spit it out. So, I don't know if was motion-nauseous or gum-nauseous. Either way, I was rather unsettled by the time we hit the ground.

Then, because of the weather and delays and stuff, we had to sit in the plan for a good twenty minutes, just waiting for a piece of equipment. We had a nice chat with one of the flight attendants and the passengers around us, but I just wanted to get off and go away. When we finally stood up to leave, and I slammed my head on the too-low ceiling (it was a really small plane). So I bent down. And then slammed my head again. And then sat down. and then tried to sidle out of my seat. And then hit my head AGAIN. I was so out of it, and dizzy and everything. Blurgh.

So, we were in Denver airport. Had to walk seventeen miles to get to customs, but customs was fine. Except... We walked through half a dozen long hallways, and then finally arrived at the last hallway which faced a wall with a down escalator on either side, fifty feet away from each other  One side said "US citizens and residents" and the other side said "Visitors". Marc's a US citizen. So we grabbed important papers and split ways, much to my dismay. Got to the bottom of the escalator and found that his side had closed signs and arrows pointing to my side. So we met back up and went through the same line together. Haha.
Then we went through all the security again, which is a little different at Denver airport. Much bigger, and scarier. More organized, and higher tech. We did have a nice chat with the girl in line in front of us, though.
And then, we were in Denver International Airport. We hopped on a train, and went to the right concourse, and then hunted down something to eat. After scarfing down a McBreakfast (of course, for the first time in a long time, I was craving nothing but Timmies...), we hunted down our gate. Took seven moving sidewalks, and passed a dozen more food options, and found the right gate, where we waited for what should have been another hour, but thanks to the weather-induced delays, was closer to two.

When our plane finally arrived and unloaded, we got in line, and waited to board. I was hardly nervous at all, and armed with two big water bottles, I really felt fine. Until we found our seats, one of which was occupied by a seven-year-old unaccompanied girl, sitting next to a woman in army fatigues. I felt like the biggest jerk pointing out that our seats were there, but our boarding ticket said so, and I did not want to be separated from Marc on my second flight ever. Turns out the little girl was supposed to be one row up, and all was good. Our plane had four small dogs, and one small child, all five of which piped up at one point or another, but didn't make anything intolerable.

Take off and cruising were both manageable, but again, landing was terrible, and I felt even worse that time around.

Spokane airport was a lot smaller, and cozier feeling. Mind you, we got off in the normal area, not the international flights area. After grabbing our luggage, we found Marc's dad and started the drive "home". It was 3 or 4 pm by then, and I hadn't slept since 2 am here time, so I dozed a little on the drive. We made it to Lewiston by 7pm or so.

Spokane was expecting a blizzard when we landed, so it was snowing the same snow I left behind in Saskatchewan. The highways were classic winter conditions, with blowing snow and little to no ice. So, here they were "bad" but I would have driven to Regina in the same weather, and not worried. As we got farther South, the snow lightened up, and once we hit the valley, there was no snow to be heard of. There is green grass, and constant above-freezing temperatures. It's "gorgeous" compared to back home.

It's funny how much I remember from our last trip, three years ago. Lewiston feels the same, and I do think I missed it. The big L and C on the hills to mark the Lewiston side, and the Clarkston side. The big star light up due North of the valley, and the hills. Every side is encompassed by hills. I'd call them mountains, but I know they're only hills. We're just deep in a valley, and I love the rolling hill scenery. And then the huuuuge river that spans the Idaho-Washington border. Oh, and I can not get enough of this greenery. I mean, you still need to mow your lawn here. I really did miss this place.

Day Two

We stayed at Marc's grandma's boyfriend's house. He's been living with her for over a year now, but he has a house not a block away from her, so he cleaned up and let us stay here for the time. It's pretty nice. No wifi, but his grandma doesn't have it either. Warm bed, empty bathroom, no one pounding on our door or expecting us. And we're close to both Marc's dad, and Marc's grandma. We don't have a car, but they both do. Grandma Allene expected us for breakfast this morning, so when I woke up, around 8:30pm (I fell asleep around 7:30am), we wandered on over there for cereal and tea. After that, she dropped Marc off at his dad's and took me shopping to find something for Marc. Just about everyone here is relying on me for what to buy him, as I'm sure they're relying on him for what to buy me. But they're his family! Haha. After our shopping trip, I met up with Marc and Roger, and we just watched TV until his sister was free and then she picked us up and took us shopping, and then to her house in Asotin (it's 2/3 the distance from Moose Jaw to Caronport from Lewiston/Clarkston), where we FINALLY connected to wifi. Haha. 

We got to see her kids, who are my niece and nephew. Isn't that weird? I'm an aunt... It's a little odd to me. Aunt Robynne? Hmm...

Anyways, we hung out with her family for a bit, and then she took us back to Lewiston, and we hung out with Roger and had dinner with his girlfriend, before coming back to where we're staying. I know we haven't done much, and I slept a ton, but I'm so exhausted. 

We braved Costco and Walmart today, and survived both experiences. Although Walmart had its usual exceptional customer service to write home about.

I saw a baby deer, just walking across the street from the school in Asotin. Towns and farms mesh really well here, so that's not unusual. Half the people in Asotin have a sheep or a pig in their backyards, I swear.

The timezones are two hours off, so I'm not jetlagged, really, I'm just missing my family and unable to text them because it's way too late at night there. I feel so cut off in general, because I usually have access to all internet, everywhere I go, but I don't get data in the states, so I turned it all off, and none of the three houses we're at in Lewiston have wireless internet, so we're just cut off. We might hunt down a McDonald's or something that has free wireless in some downtime, but I'm not sure how much downtime we'll really have. We've been pretty busy so far.

Day Three

Today was a much more chill kind of day. We had brunch at The Bait Shop with my father-in-law, which advertises "The Best Hotcakes in Town", so I had two of their "hotcakes" (which are pancakes, for anyone like me who hadn't heard the term). They were pretty good, but they were also the size of my plate, so I didn't finish them. The Bait Shop is one of those family-run kind of restaurants that's really small and only had two waitresses on at a time, and everyone treats you like they know you. The decor is heavily fisherman style. And by that, I mean any and every little sign, knick-knack and decoration they could find that was fish themed was up on the walls. They were just covered with fishing sayings and cute little fishermen fishing and plastic fish. One wall was covered with framed photos of men holding the fish they caught. I don't know if they were local men, friends of the owners, or just random people. It was the kind of place I wouldn't have picked, but their food was good.

After eating with Roger, we met up with Brooke, who is Marc's older sister's daughter. She's only a year or so younger than us, though. We got to see her place, which is the cutest little apartment I've ever seen. The living room/dining room had floral wallpaper, as did the bedroom, and the kitchen was trimmed in an adorable teal/aqua shade. It eludes a heavy seventies feel, but in that adorable retro way. I loved it. 

It's really odd to me that I'm Brooke's aunt. I mean, I get how family relationships work and all, I just thought that I'd only be an aunt when one of my siblings became parents, not when I married and suddenly adopted five nieces and nephews. And then, it makes sense that I'm an aunt to the youngest kids, they're all little and stuff. But when my niece is a year younger than me, and is driving us around and showing us her place, well it's all just odd.

Today really was pretty chill. We did some Christmas shopping, we had dinner at Panda Express, and made Chex mix with Marc's dad. All in all, just chill. I really loved hanging out with Brooke though. So far, we've just spent time with Marc's dad, Marc's grandma, and Marc's sister, who has kids aged 10 and 13. So it was really nice to spend time with someone our own age.

I've been thinking about death, which sounds a lot more morbid than I meant it to. The place we're staying at is Marc's grandma's boyfriend's place. He and his wife used to live here, but she passed away a few years ago, and about a year or so ago, he moved in with Marc's grandma, but kept his old place. We were expecting a bare bones place with just what we needed to survive, but I don't think he's cleaned it out at all. There's still salsa in the pantry from the last year his wife canned it. We asked Marc's grandma (I guess she's kind of my grandma, too, but that seems weird too) about her, because everything she did seems to be untouched, and she said she passed away just over four years ago. That she had an aneurysm while she was standing at the kitchen sink peeling apples, and her husband was out mowing the lawn. I can't even imagine how he felt. Well, when we headed back later, we were standing in the kitchen, and Marc brought it up, and it just felt really creepy to be standing in just about the place some woman we've never met died, several years ago.

I'm sure we've all stood, sat, or walked over the exact place that somebody, at sometime died, we just don't necessarily know about it. Some people think graveyards are creepy, but I don't. I think they're cool, full of stories. But to think that this, right here, is the exact location that someone lived for the last time... Well, that's creepy. It's not so much dead bodies that creep me out, but the idea of a life ending. Death is death. When a body is dead, there is nothing more. But at one point, there was something more; at one point, that body had a future and life ahead of it. Thinking about that point when it ends.. It's eerie.

Onto a brighter topic... Haha... The world didn't end today! Hoorah. We'll all go on living. And nothing major happened here. I was worried about major shopping centers, and fear-mongering, or everyone  just staying home, but life seemed to function perfectly normal down here in Lewiston. I'm pretty unconnected from the rest of the world, so I don't know about the bigger cities. But honestly, nothing of note happened here. A few people commented on how the world hadn't ended, but that was that. No big deal.

Day Four 

Our big task today was to decorate the Christmas tree Roger bought. I love live trees, but I've never had one as a kid, so he got a live one, and we pulled out the decorations they've had since Marc was a kid, and I did it all up. I was very proud of it.

We also went out for Mexican food, at El Sombrero, with Roger's girlfriend Barb. Marc loved the food, I enjoyed it. You know me and my white taste buds. I just don't get rice and re-fried beans. I just don't.

So chill today, which is nice. We're enjoying the time off and away as much as we're enjoying the time with family.

Day Five

Marc woke up sick today. Really just a cold, but the kind that makes your whole body feel like crap. So we took it pretty easy. We borrowed Brook's car for the day, which meant we actually had our own way around. We got most of our Christmas shopping done, because we finally weren't with whoever we were trying to buy for. We went to Costco, and sampled a smoked salmon, which I enjoyed for the first time. So we bought some, although we're not sure when we're going to eat it. We'll make time.

We met up with Sherine and her family at Zany Gray's, which is a 50's themed restaurant. Good food, fun decor, and retro music. I loved it. Brook and her best friend Jamie joined us too, so I finally met the infamous Jamie. Oh, and I had Bite-Sized steak. It's a thing here. Most of the restaurants serve it. It's like squares of steak deep-fried. It's alright, but I'm still not a fan of steak. But all the restaurants do it a little different, and like compete. Bill says that a restaurant is marked as good or not by their bite-sized. I don't get it. I guess it's "a valley thing", meaning all of the Lewis-Clark valley, but I've never heard of it outside of the valley.

I sure do appreciate the valley thing though. That's the reason we have above-freezing temperatures, and green grass.

Day Six

Today, we met up with Cassie, Adam, and Kory. Cassie and Kory are Marc's cousins, and Adam is Cassie's husband. Cassie and Adam lived in LA until five days ago, and Kory lived in New Orleans for awhile until semi-recently, so we really haven't seen much of them, except on Facebook. Hanging out with them makes me wish we lived a lot closer. They'd be good friends if we did, I'm sure.

It was also really nice to spend time with other people our own age. I mean Brook is great, but when she's the only person your age... Haha. It was good.

We had lunch at Rooster's, which is apparently a nice restaurant  You know, when you say you want to go for a nice dinner, people go to Rooster's. It's in a grain bin-type building, with rustic, homey, farm-filled decor. It's fun, and laid-back feeling, but anything except fancy.

Then we went shopping, because it's Christmas eve and we still hadn't bought a present for a few people. We got everybody covered now though.

Oh, and it snowed today. As in, the top third of the hills surrounding the valley have snow, but it just blew over / melted before it got any lower. So we have wintry scenery, and still gorgeous winter weather. I'm quite thankful. I know just up the hill the roads are bad, and everywhere is snowy. Roger didn't go to his worksite this morning because the highways were too bad. I could not love Lewiston more right now.

After sick Marc had a nap, we went to Grandma Allene's for the family dinner/gift exchange thing. That was fun. Of course Cassie, Adam and Kory were there again, but also their parents, Marc's other aunt, and various other cousins. They're all really great. They also make me wish we lived less than 16 hours of driving away.

Kory gave Marc and I matching sock monkey toques that I just love. They're hilarious. He also gave Marc a Dora DVD, which we were really excited about. I've recently babysat three different little girls who all requested "Mermaid Dora", and guess what! Kory gave Marc Mermaid Dora! Except, Kory meant it as a gag gift, so it kind of failed on him. 

Overall, it was a really great Christmas Eve. It didn't feel like Christmas Eve to me, just because I'm not with my family. My little sister isn't getting all excited, my mom isn't making dinner... I'm not near any of my siblings or parents. It really makes me sad, and the fact that it is a holiday just doesn't feel right.

Day Seven

ITS CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay.

Haha. We got up as early as we could this morning, but I woke up sick like Marc. I felt like crap. We went over to Roger's for breakfast and exchanging gifts. We bought him a heavy-duty water bottle, and then stuffed it with chocolate and a pocket knife. He got me fuzzy fluffy socks. I was ecstatic. 

After a chill gift opening with the three of us, a relaxed breakfast, and some TV watching, Sherine came and got us and took us back to her place so we could exchange gifts with her family and then hang out with them. She got me the same fuzzy fluffy socks Roger did. I was even more ecstatic. One can never have too many fuzzy fluffy socks.

We had Chinese food for dinner, because the China Inn was open Christmas, and then...

WE SAW THE HOBBIT!!!!!!!!!!

Best Christmas ever.

Haha. Sherine, her two kids, Marc and I all went to the movie theater to see it. She'd been meaning to go, and we'd been meaning to go, so we went! I really really loved it. I loved it before I saw it, but it did not let me down. Kelei fell asleep, but he is 9... 

Best ever.




Day Eight

Happy Boxing Day! Which is not observed in America. I don't mean it's not a stat like it is in Canada, I mean no one knows the term "Boxing Day". They have "End of the Year Sales". It's really odd.

Since it's a work day for normal people, Marc went out to his dad's work site to see it and help out for a little while. So when I got up alone, I packed up our dirty laundry and went over to grandma's to wash it. For Christmas we got her a photo frame, so I showed her the photos I have on my computer of us, and she picked one for the frame.

Marc wanted to check out the shooting ranges with his brother-in-law, Bill, and I got a Macy's card for Christmas, so I wanted to go shopping. So they all let the little Canadian drive!! I borrowed Allene's car and drove out to Asotin to pick up Myka. It's not far, and I've taken the path several times with others driving, so I did okay. But driving in miles is weird.

With Myka in the car, I was a lot less likely to get lost, so we went to the mall, and then to Walmart, and then to Starbucks.

I bought a buttload of office clothes at Macy's, for work, and checked out some of the sweet sales in the mall. Didn't buy much, though, because our suitcase is getting full...

We went to Walmart to print off the photo Allene picked out, and then decided to chill at Starbucks until the boys are done shooting things.

We met up with Marc, Bill and Kelei at Allene's house, where we had to say goodbye to the Lee's. Once again, I wished so hard that we lived closer. I really enjoyed spending time with Myka. I felt like that cool aunt for the day.

Then Roger took us to El Sombrero because he had some gift cards he "had to burn" and Marc had to say goodbye to "real Mexican food". I couldn't finish my huge plate of food, and when the waitress asked if I wanted it boxed, I said nah, we couldn't take it. She laughed. I said, "No, really. We can't take this back to Canada." We really really can't.

Then we swung by Jim and Sue Kleeburg's house. They're way back friends of Marc and Roger; they always went rafting together. Five point eight seconds after we walked in the door, Marc realized he forgot his phone at El Sombrero. So Marc and Roger took off to get it, and left me with Sue and Jim. They're plenty nice, but I felt kind of abandoned... Haha.

We had a good visit with them. They have a cat that looks a lot like Pixel, but he's twice her size. It made me miss my kitties. After visiting, we went home, and packed.

Day Nine.

Today, is Spokane. We got up, finished packing, said goodbye to Allene, bought shoes, ate lunch, and left. Are you stuck on bought shoes? Yeah, I know. You see, Marc picked up two pairs of shoes yesterday. We both have gigantic feet, so we have a terrible time finding shoes that fit, work, look good, and don't cost too much. Marc got two pairs of shoes on Boxing Day for a grand total of $40. A pair of good gym shoes (reg $80) and a pair of skate shoes (reg $60). So Marc got it into his head that I need new shoes too. It might have something to do with the fact that my winter boots I'm wearing have plastic support in the back that's all broken and sometimes flips and stabs my heels. They're still wearable though...

So we went to Shopko, which has a Payless, and found my size. I found a pair of adorable ankle boots with a three inch heel, but Marc said I'd hurt myself more than I walked. I also found a pair of gorgeous red pumps that I nearly died over, but Marc wouldn't let me buy them. I also found a pair of white heels that were $3. Marc caved.

Then we went to Famous Footwear, which doesn't carry my size.

Then we went to the OTHER Payless.

Okay, we don't have a Payless in Moose Jaw anymore, but when we did, my size 12 section was the biggest size in Womens, and was at max, four shoeboxes wide. On a bad day, there'd by two shoeboxes wide, top to bottom.

This Payless, first of all, carried up to size 13 Womens, and second, the size 12 section was at least ten feet wide! I had so many options! I have never seen that many shoes that would fit my feet all at the same time. Not since I was 14 or 15. 

I tried on several pairs, and bought a pair of brown winter boots that are super fuzzy on the inside, and another pair of $4 heels to wear to work.

I hate shoe shopping, only because I can't find shoes to fit me. When I find good shoes, I friggin love shoe shopping!!

So anyways... We had to do some shoe shopping today. You see why? Then we went to Sharp's Burger Ranch for lunch. It's a local fast food joint, I guess. Kory happened to be there with a friend, so we bid farewell to him, and then hit the highway. 

Leaving Lewiston, the ground was covered in a fine dusting of snow. First snow I'd seen on the ground since we entered Lewiston. Ah, the valley. So we drove the snowy two and half hours to Spokane in -1 or -2 (Celsius) weather. Spokane is like Saskatoon to Moose Jaw; it's bigger, two and a half hours away, and everyone seems to live there. Well, most importantly, Marc's sister Fawna and two of her kids live there. 

So Roger dropped us off at her house, and we got to see her, her boyfriend David, and her son James. James is not quite a year younger than Brook, but sometimes I think James is older than Brook. They seem pretty much the same.

We were running low on American cash, but had fifty bucks Canadian on us, so they took us to two different banks, which both said you had to have an account with them to exchange currency, which is super frustrating, because we didn't want to pay the fee to pull money out of an ATM.

Then we went for dinner. I just think Sonic is the coolest restaurant ever, so they took us to Sonic, and then we went back to their place, and ate, talked, and half-watched Jurassic Park. It played through three times, but I only half-watched it each time, so I think I've seen it now. Then we watched Avatar because Marc hadn't seen it. Amazing movie, and he really enjoyed it, but it was three hours long, so we were pretty wiped when we finally hit the hay.

Day Ten

Today, is travel day again. We got up at 4:30, packed one final time, and drove to the airport. Said goodbye to Fawna and David, and checked in. Guess we were running kind of late, because the ticket guy said we checked in with one minute to spare before they closed check-in. But the lines for security were crazy long, and we had to wait forever. It was odd security, because Regina had a square thing I walked through slowly; I assume it was a metal detector. Then Denver had a thing you stop and stand in, and it takes a picture of your body. Spokane had both, next to each other  and a TSA agent was telling people to stand in which line. I don't know why. But they scanned my body, and then a TSA agent patted down my head, because I put my hair all up in a bun. I thought that was pretty funny, that she patted down my bun. I was surprised they didn't ask me to remove my ponytail before being scanned, so it didn't bother me none.

Then we grabbed our stuff, without bothering to put half of it back on, and booked it to our gate, to find we missed it. Our plane hadn't left, but they'd closed it all up and we missed it. Exhausted, stressed-out, wiped and disappointed, I sat down while Marc talked to an agent. I overheard another couple with another agent. I guess they missed the same flight, and she was saying they could get them to Denver, but it'd be another day before they could get home. Unless they wanted to fly somewhere else for a layover, which was a longer flight, and blah blah blah freaking out now. 

So I joined Marc at the counter. He said we could get another flight today, to Denver and then Regina, but it wouldn't leave until 1:30pm. It was then 5:50am. Blagh. It was our best bet, unless we switched airlines and paid $150. So we took it. Oh, and on the first flight, we got Exit Row seats. Which means that in the event of a crash, we had to be able to open the doors and help people out. But honestly, in the event of a crash, 90% of the time, you're already dead. But they come with more leg room, so I'm happy.

We hung out in the Spokane airport for eight hours; ate breakfast and lunch there, before our flight finally got there. 

The flight back to Denver would have been inconsequential, except that I had the middle seat, Marc had the window seat, and a very large girl sat in the aisle seat. Again, inconsequential had she not insisted on using both armrests, and watching whatever games I was playing. Oh, and my hip was touching hers unless I sidled over towards Marc and leaned on him. Really uncomfortable and frustrating and I was already grumpy, so really not impressed with that flight. But it was only an hour and forty minutes!

We landed in Denver and had two and half hours for dinner and finding our gate. Both of which, we did just fine. Then we hung out at our boarding gate for almost two hours. Our flight boarded on time, but they had to fuel the plane still, and then de-ice it, so the plane that was supposed to land at 11:02 landed around 11:40 Saskatchewan time. At this point, we'd been up 19 hours. Then we had to go through customs, where everything was fine, and then we finally found Solomon (who was picking us up, mostly because he had been house/dog-sitting for us) and left. Great to be back on Canadian soil, but when those airport doors opened, I wanted to turn around and get back on a plane.

Brrr... It was cold. Drive home was good, except that I was dog-tired, but had to pee more than a pregnant lady drinking six liters of water in front of a fountain. So I couldn't sleep.

Got home to a VERY excited and happy dog, unpacked essentials, and went to bed. Exhausted.

Overall, a really good trip that was well enjoyed. I'll miss Lewiston, and the family there, but I am glad to be home. Thankful everything went well, and nobody got hurt or anything crazy.