A week ago my two hiking buddies and I planned our next hike together, a stroll in Farragut State Park.
I adore Farragut and have written about my forays into the lovely chunk of land many times. I have ridden horses through its tree-lined landscape, wandered along its shores and trails, been to parties at its pavilions, and have yet to explore its museums Farragut used to be a US Military base).
But my favorite place is the shores along the bay on Lake Pend Oreille. I think it's because the scenery reminds me a lot of Southeast Alaska. Crisp water lapping the shores, jutting peaks exploding out of the drink, stately trees and frolicking wildlife galore.
Yep, a meander through Farragut gets me all nostalgic.
Plus, I never know what I am going to see!
We parked down at the boat launch and strolled out onto the rocky shore of Lake Pend Oreille. One of the first things we spied, as the rain pelted us from the sky, was a lovely little new family.
It's Canada Gooses baby hatching season. (I know its "geese" but Letterkenny corrupted me).
I felt a bit like a young gosling as I picked my way along the slippery rocks with my friends. Before I had even reached the shore, my rain coat was shiny from the heavenly deluge. I was definitely feeling beyond nostalgic, as most of my childhood in Southeast Alaska was spent in a saturated state. It rained 242" one year alone!
So, there might have been more than a bit of a spring in my step. My friends seemed to be a bit more labored in their rock traversing, they are quite a bit taller than me, and one of them has shot ankles from four decades as an elite runner, so I had mercy on them and diverted off the shore and up the hill to one of Farragut's many magnificent trails.
I mean, four feet of width without a root or rock in sight is pretty dang fantastic! Plus, we ran into a school group on a history tour, which included one of the kids on my husband's shotgun team, so I got to feel pretty famous as she excitedly waved at me. (I totally, excitedly waved in return).
Since it was a bit of a deluge, our hike wasn't a particularly long one in duration, plus, we were all hankering to try out our next destination, a new restaurant.
Farragut Bar and Grill in Athol, Idaho is a pretty new joint in our neck of the woods, and I was pretty excited because it was in the the old White Pine Cafe, which was one of my grandparent's favorite restaurants until it shuttered its doors many years ago.
Yesterday truly was a nostalgia day!
And holy good grub, is The Farragut almost as awesome as its namesake! I had a leftover prime rib, stout infused soup that delighted my rain chilled carcass to no end! The server told us that they made all their soups and sauces, and I totally believe it, my fish and chips, parmesan and garlic infused fries, and tartar sauce were all as sublime as the soup.
In fact, the food was so good, that we all decided we needed to try the restaurant again next week after our hike, because reasons....
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's still a bit on the damp side from yesterdays foray iPhone.