Shmoozing with the mayor of Chewelah

Larry Richmond, mayor for 16 years, took us around Chewelah on a 3 hour tour of the sights. Lots of trees and rolling hills, farm country, beautiful lakes. The people here were so warm and friendly (our B&B just left the door unlocked for us). It was a nice slice of Americana for the weekend. 

Riding in an unmarked police car Chewelah, WA

The aiport here loaned us this car for $10 per day. Not only did it have this cool searchlight, but also flashing lights (they warned us not to use them, but we pulled into a back road and couldn't resist) and exempt plates (we could park anywhere). Sweeeet. Mike shone that light as we drove around at night, scaring cats and necking teenagers alike. He swears his next car needs to have one of these gizmos!

Chewelah, WA

Chewelah is tucked up in the northeast corner of WA state, north of Spokane. We've chased deer, rabbits and squirrels off tee boxes to play golf, but this was a first...wild turkeys!! There is wildlife aplenty here - prior to landing the plane, you have to buzz the airstrip to scare off the deer. 

Pie Eating Contest in Seattle

Mike and I participated (burp!) in the Rainier Investment Management company picnic pie eating contest. All the pie you could eat for 30 seconds. Note my chocolate mustache and Mike's whipped cream face! Mike came in second, but claims he would have won had his efforts not been hampered by a pre-contest pie in the face. Must have been payback from the water balloon fight! 

In Portland, OR with Alana

At the beautiful Rose Garden park, Christina and Joel treated us to a fantastic picnic lunch in honor of Mike's pending birthday. Alana had a blast flipping upside down. Mike and Joel even threw her up with a blanket... to which her response was "AGAIN!" 

In Portland with Madeline

Here's Madeline, now officially age 1, demonstrating her rocking horse expertise. 

Mike and his guide friends

That's Brian on the left and Jay on the right, photo taken with some ingenious balancing and an automatic timer. Anyone game for some rock climbing? A trip to the Grand Tetons may be in the works sometime next year... 

At the summit of Mt. Stewart!

Mike made it to the top!! Fortunately, he also made it back down safe and sound, tired but very satisfied. He gave this trip an A+ rating and will be looking for hiking companions for the next trip with these same guides. Anyone game? 

Rock Climbing at Mt Stewart, WA

Near Leavenworth in central WA, this trip was Mike and a couple of guide buddies. They hiked up with 50 lb backpacks, set up camp and then clipped in and scrambled up the rock face.

Sunflower field at Ruby Springs

Ruby Springs Lodge is a beautiful rustic but elegant lodge about an hour from Butte, Montana. We had a 3 night stay there for our wedding anniversary. This field of sunflowers was just outside our cabin. Gourmet food, great people. Definitely sissy camping at it's finest! 

Fly fishing at Ruby Springs, Montana

Here's Mike and our guide Jason with a big trout Mike hooked. We're new to fly fishing, and sure snagged and got tangled a lot - our guide perfected his ducking technique every time we cast our lines! Between the two of us, we caught 16 fish in 2 days...so there were a few big ones that GOT AWAY. 

Shooting skeet at Ruby Springs, Montana

This is the first time in my life I ever shot anything except a BB gun. Mike and I were pretty marginal shots - those clay discs you're supposed to hit were really fast. Our guide said a bird in the bush is 10 times faster. Good thing we weren't responsible for shooting our supper! 

Ruby Springs, Montana

Horseback riding through the Ruby Mountains was great - we trotted and galloped through open wheat fields. The surrounding area is spectacular, albeit a little hazy from numerous forest fires in the area.