I hung out with the Worthington family for a couple hours this morning, enjoying conversation, coffee, and pumpkin rolls.  I also played piano for a little bit with the 6 year old.  We came up with a song, Ode to the Squatty Potty (if you don't know it, look up the commercial on youtube, but only if you have a good sense of humor).  A glissando sounds just like a unicorn making an ice cream cone.  I also picked up a new phrase from her, the answer to every difficulty: "you can't force the body."  So, whether or not you feel like doing something, or should be doing something, you can't force yourself to do it.  It will happen or it won't.

I was on the road from Boise around 10am.  There was consistent rain the entire drive to Coeur d'Alene.  I made two stops, both longer than I intended.  First I got off at the Seven Devil's area, a suggestion from my ranger friend for good scenery and river views.  I think I must have missed the place he meant.  This was beautiful, but there was no river view, and it was a very long, many many miles, drive up the mountains.  Gorgeous with the rain and fog, and eventually I was up in the low clouds.  Realizing that I wouldn't be finding the scenery I was looking to photograph, I headed back though I really wanted to keep going and see what's at the top.  Next time.

My next stop was at the BLM's Hammer Creek Recreation Site along the Salmon River.  A great stop for photos, and to check out a sculpture that Ranger Worthington worked on.  There was a handful of people fishing in the river, but it was very very quiet.  A lovely spot.

The rest of the drive was a race to get home in time for a fundraiser for Steve Gibbs, local gallery owner and arts supporter extraordinaire.  I made it back, grabbed a quick shower, then we were off to meet friends for dinner before the fundraiser began.  It was a nice night of dancing and friends, lots of love in the room.

Lots of rainbows today.

Driving up a road I don't know the name of, way up into the mountains.  Into the cloud bank here.

Looking down the way I came.  This was much more impressive in person.

Pano of this spot.  Really lovely area.

Along the Salmon River.

A stop along the Salmon River.

Salmon River at Hammer Creek.

Sculpture project by Ranger E.E. Worthington.

A trestle near Craigmont.  I wrote a little about Craigmont on my post about my drive down.  As a little girl, my grandma and her family lived in Idaho for a short time, her mother taught school on the Nez Perce reservation.  One of my grandma's stories was that she and her brother would play on the trestles outside of town, but sometimes a train would come.  They would swing down beneath the tracks and hang by their knees until the train passed.  Craziness.  She gave me a couple photos of one of the trestles, it wasn't this one.  I need to go back and poke around to find the one she photographed.