Adventures of SJ & Cricket: White Bird

Hoopfest is great and all but...well...PEOPLE. 

So. Many. People. 

So Cricket and I hit the road in search of the opposite. And this little cabin in White Bird brought us exactly that. Peace. Quiet. Disconnect. My batteries have recharged and I think I can PEOPLE again. For a week or two anyway.

We started our road trip on the path to Pullman. My old stomping grounds. Where I learned as much about communications as I did social skills (okay, how to beer bong and sing the Cougar fight song without messing up the clapping part at the end). We parked mid-campus and walked along Stadium Way to Martin Stadium, wandered past the CUB and found a shady spot in the grass to take in the quiet campus, void of students for the summer.

After I had my fill of nostalgia it was back on the road to White Bird. Road construction around Lewiston slowed us down a bit but the views through the canyon were so spectacular we didn't mind. Then, there it was: the white picket fence and goose mailbox along 95 and the Salmon River directing us to our home for the night.

The Little Cabin was perfect. No cell service. No wi-fi. No TV. Just the river, some board games, some books and a blue-tooth speaker so I could rock out to my hippie music that I had saved on my phone prior to hitting the road. We spent the afternoon playing fetch and digging holes on the beach, admiring the host's garden and diving into a book. We bbq'd steaks and drank tea by the fire. 

The next morning I realized the cabin sat right on the line between PST and MST - I was literally time travelling from one side of the deck to the other. Which reinforced one thing - we had all the time in the world that day to explore and enjoy our little road trip. 

Off to Riggins, Idaho we went. We walked along the river and visited a park. Drove to the fish hatchery and admired the hundreds of fishermen lining the roads with their long nets. So many, in fact, that they were camping on the side of the highway. In the gravel. With tents. It looked like quite the party! I even saw a group of women tailgating with mimosas while their husbands cast their lines. 

Next stop: Cottonwood. I had been eye-balling a dog-shaped B&B for awhile now and that's where it was located. The grounds for the Inn were an actual dog park. Complete with oversized fire hydrant! We spoke with the owners and their pup for a long while then went outside to play! We will definitely be staying in the giant dog-shaped room this fall!

Back on the road we headed north to Pullman again. This time to see the bears. When I was in school the grizzlies at the Bear Facility were always in hibernation so I never got to see them, so I knew it would be a perfect day to stop. Sure enough, we were able to witness two rolling down the hillside and the others playing in their pens with red balls and driftwood. Cricket was convinced she was bigger than all of them. They didn't bat an eyelash her direction though.

Once we had our fill of wildlife it was off to Steptoe Butte to take in the views. Sadly, our only view from the top was that of a VERY large group of tourists who had very little concern for anyone else trying to take in the beauty of the Palouse. So we took a quick photo and scurried back down the hill away from the chaos. 

Then it was the road back home. Cricket slept and I smiled knowing we'd fit another fantastic adventure into 24 short hours. And I can't help but daydream about where those adventures will take us next. 

xoxo, SJ