Bonjour and Bonne Nuit everyone, I have missed you all! The month of August was beyond a whirlwind for me, I am reasonably sure that I didn't sit down at all except to sleep. There was a 4H campout, a river rafting trip (part two is coming!), and let us not forget the fair, which took a third of the month. We then had to get ready for school, as my two always homeschooled students have ventured forth into the public school realm for high school and junior high. Let me just say that it is nice to just plop down and catch my breath.
Anyway, today my daughter had a volleyball game in the lovely little burg of Sandpoint, Idaho. Sandpoint is about a 45 minute drive to the north of us, and I decided to make an already cool outing even cooler by picking up my dad, a person some of you know as Rambling Ron. My parents live in a cabin in the woods north of Sandpoint, so this afternoon I picked up my father from his cabin and interrupted his afternoon routine of watching The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. We then drove into town to grab my mom from her workplace, a super cool helicopter company that engineers and manufactures all manner of excellent and functional helicopter accoutrements. My mom is what my dad likes to call the company siderod, she is the CFO's right hand woman, and handles all sorts of everything. My mom is beyond impressive to me.:)
Anyway, parents secure in my little blue car, we hopped across the street to the high school and proceeded to watch some freshman girls play volleyball. As usual my dad was full of comments and I about killed him with a quip about a cougar and a glass of chardonnay. Have no fear dear readers, he is still kicking. My daughter's team was defeated, which is not too surprising as Sandpoint is a much larger school and isn't in our league. The girls played super though, at least I thought so when I wasn't explaining to my dad that "he couldn't psychoanalyze that kid from 55 feet away." We might have also made some people laugh.
After the game, we hugged our girl goodbye as she was staying with her team and wandered over to Felkers Northern Smoke BBQ in Ponderay, Idaho. Now, Felkers is inside the old Paul Bunyan hamburger building in Ponderay, so when I walked in there I had a bit of a nostalgia wave hit me, but it quickly was replaced by an anticipation wave as I smelled the smoky goodness of BBQ. Felkers have their menu printed on papers you can pluck from a hanger on the wall. The menu looked all sorts of tantalizing, but I happened to see a special on the wall, it was a smoked ham and gouda sandwich, served with onion rings and a side. Well, that dish screamed EAT ME to my little brain cells and super hungry tummy, so I ordered that dish with a side of mac and cheese. The parents both ordered french dips, but dad added a side of fries and mom went with baked beans. Mom also got a mini loaf of cornbread. Future hunger satiation was looking promising.
The drink situation at Felkers is pretty fun, there is a soda dispenser and iced tea over in this area where one gathers one's utensils and probably the most important thing at a BBQ, moist towelettes. I'm a sucker for a properly brewed iced tea. Dad mixed and matched soda flavors like a pro, and I am still not sure what mom selected. I'm sure it was tasty.
After a rather short wait, the food arrived on pizza pans covered with checkered paper. Just look at this BBQ sandwich in all its smoky glory!
Everything was marvelous from the bacon flavored baked beans to the homemade cornbread with whipped honey butter. And now you will have to excuse me, for I am more than a touch full and ready to sleep a bit.
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's still fragrant with the BBQ scent iPhone.
