We awoke to find it cold. No, colder than that. What the hell is going on with this summer? The wind hadn’t died down from the night before and now it was probably in the mid 40s. Not so much fun for having the top down, so we agreed up was better.
Our first stop was the Bella Rose bakery in downtown Coeur d’Alene. Among the many delights they advertise in the window is a large tea selection; I really needed tea. They also have breakfast sandwiches and bagels. Normally, Molly will devour a plain bagel in just short of two seconds, but she didn’t take to the idea of grilling bagels in a panini press. So, what’s a growing girl to do? Of course! She stole half of my sandwich. Fortunately, she also had her hot chocolate, which she sucked down in near record time — Please forgive my imprecision; it’s so hard to measure time that short without proper scientific equipment.
Then we drove.
Drove some more.
Molly declared she was hungry.
Then we drove still a bit more until we finally reached this little poopstain of a town along I-90. This town’s only claim to fame is one woman whose passion for poison and arson led her to open the only cafe in town. Molly only managed to eat half of her grilled cheese after I bribed her with my potato chips; the less said about my cheeseburger the better.
Then we drove some more. We actually missed the turn for Rt 93 down to Salmon and had to backtrack. I was distracted by Molly’s rendition of how boy and girl squirrel dance. It turns out they dance totally different. Neither one of us exactly knows why.
About an hour away from Salmon, ID we stopped at the Ravalli County Fair Grounds where an amusement park had been set up. When we walked through the gate, we doubled the attendance for the hour. But it was great: no lines and eager attendants.
Although most of the rides were targeted at younger folks, Molly did manage to get me up in the ferris wheel and into the fun house. The ferris wheel was pretty cool, we were able to see for miles and Molly actually asked why the mountains look like they were broken. Perhaps a budding Geologist in the works…
And for a finale, Molly enjoyed some cotton candy. Why can’t they sell that horrible stuff in small bags? Why must I now cart around a metric tonne of cotton candy? The worst is enduring Molly’s constant pleading to have some more.
Tomorrow we’re going rafting on the Salmon river, but if the weather continues cold, we may make other plans.