Appreciating a Place We Call Home: A Christmas Letter

There are numerous things we appreciate about the place we call home. The last year we have spent more time close to home taking short road trips that resulted in an awareness of the beauty that surrounds us here on Lake Roosevelt. Here are some thoughts as I reflect on the last year.

Top Ten Reasons I Was Glad Gas Prices
Were Too High in 2007 to Travel Very Far

10. We earned lots of free lattes on our espresso cards in Stevens and Spokane Counties.
9. When we took a ten-mile trip around our area we didn’t need 3 oz. toiletries in a quart size Ziplock bag. We could even take our own bottled water!
8. Annie and Shelby could go to Lake Roosevelt and roll in dead fish as easily as the Oregon Coast.
7. When I went hiking through the Settler’s Cedar Grove in North Idaho with my siblings I didn’t have to put a rush order on my new passport.
6. We didn’t have to go to a big city to see live theater. We went to the Sixth Street Melodrama in Wallace, Idaho in July and thoroughly enjoyed “Nightmare at Dream Gulch Or... Wake Me When Its Over” written by my sister Silver Valley Girl. She also starred , her husband was the director and another star and all my nieces had parts!
5. I appreciate good Idaho food including hamburgers at the Spragpole Cafe in Murray, authentic Mexican tamales at Patti’s Kitchen in Moscow, great coffee at Josie’s in Kellogg, and drunken gravy fries at the 13 13 Club in Wallace.
4. It is easier to take digital pictures at a mountain lake when you are the only people there.
3. When my brother and I toured the White Pine Scenic Byway in Idaho and JEJ joined us on the Selkirk Loop in northeastern Washington we didn’t have to search for parking places or fight traffic.
2. We drove by Sandy’s Drive-In on our way home from many ten-mile trips and it was necessary to get the best soft ice cream cones in the Inland Empire.
1. The number one reason I was glad the gas prices were high : I could travel the northwest and enjoy five-star restaurants, but it is better to drive four hours and enjoy Mom’s five-star fried chicken, potato salad, homemade ice cream, and apple pie.