I meant to add these earlier. This is a little section of the "longest, undefended border in the world". The left is Canada and the right is the US. I always just get a kick out of the fact that the border is just a cleared swath in the bush. Below is the marker for the International Boundary. You'd think they could at least pull a few weeds and tidy it up, but I guess they are too busy gazing at the cleared spot, looking for cross-border jumpers....ummmm, like they wouldn't just cross over the crest of the mountain?

The Boys and the Cup

All you hockey fans will understand the excitement of being with the Stanley Cup...probably the most illustrious sports trophy around, as well as 2 local boys who are now NHL stars. Shane has always wanted to see the Cup "in real life" so this was pretty special, seeing it with his dad. Scott Neidermayer (on the right) recognized Steven and called him by name, so Steven was pretty pleased about that as well, as Scott is pretty much one of the greatest hockey players in the world today, having won every (and I do mean EVERY) hockey award out there- from Bantam awards, to a Memorial Cup, an Olympic Gold medal, 4 (count 'em...FOUR) Stanley Cups, the Norris and I'm sure all sorts of others.

The new and short haircut. This is the shortest I have had my hair for years and years, and I must say, I love it! Wash 'n Wear! Also in the background you may notice the excercise bike that I will start riding any day now...really, any day, maybe tonight. Or tomorrow for sure...

The beds in the Davenport Hotel are custom made king-size. The bed came up to my lower ribs, thus the little step underneath so that you can climb in. It was the best bed I have ever slept in...with 6 huge feather pillows and a feather duvet. And I think the sheets might have spun from silkworms imported from Tibet or somewhere....sooooooo soft. Turn down service included.

"Yes Jeeves, two lumps of sugar and some cream imported from Devonshire please..." What tacky tourists we are....

Spokane

While in Spokane we decided to treat ourselves and stay at the Davenport Hotel. It's a pretty amazing and historical place. (it's also one of the top ranked hotels in the America's. Built in early 1900's, closed and set to be demolished in the early 2000's, it was purchased by a couple in 2002 (or so) and they spent 38 MILLION dollars in renovations. It's like the Palace of Versailles now, full of glitz and glitter and glamour. This is one of the ballrooms (I think there are 4)

All the hallways have these phenomenal plaster and wooden arches, hand crafted and hand painted, they were all covered with years and years of soot and dirt, and everyone was amazed at the brilliance that remained underneath.

This is another one of the ballrooms that can be rented out for wedding and other affairs.

A close up of the arches in the hallsways. All the picture frames (of which there are MANY) are 22 carat gold...the restorers spared no expense is the renovations. Craftsmen were brought in from all over the world, from Russia to Italy.

Steamplant Secrets

This really isn't a secret, although I don't know anyone who has eaten here, but we have dinner here quite often when we are in Spokane. It's called "The Steamplant" and it is exactly that, an old steamplant that originally opened in 1920 or thereabouts, closed in the late 80's and then was re-opened as a most amazing restaurant in the late 90's. You can still see all the "workings" and the tables and various rooms you can rent for parties and meetings are scattered amongst old pipes and metal stairways. It's a fun place to eat, good food and marvellous desserts.

The old brick steam pipes are in immaculate condition, over 300,000 bricks per pipe. The picture below is inside one of them, looking up.

I had a bowl of beer/cheese soup, garnished with popcorn (of all things) It was good enough that I wanted to lick the bowl, however I restrained myself and tried to behave with some decorum.

Secrets of Sandpoint.

Sandpoint is a smallish town on the way to the larger Coeur D'Alene and the even larger Spokane. It's a pretty little town, very artsy and everyone knows the Pioneer Pies there (although it's now Panhandler Pies) Anyhow, you drive to Sandpoint, stop at one or two of the box stores on the highway, then at The Black Sheep (sporting goods store) then you stop at "the pie place" and have pie before you continue on to the larger cities. That's what you do, everyone who lives in Cranbrook (and area) knows that. So this time we decided to do something different. I had heard of a restaurant called The Hydra, where I heard of it I don't know. On the Lonely PLanet website I think. We found it, and were sort of hesitant as it looked like a scruffy old roadhouse that would serve things like meatloaf and nachos. We stepped inside and to our amazement found a wonderfully sort of "antique-y" place, great ambiance and phenomenal food...I had Dijon chicken breasts and Steven had a seafood pasta. What a great little smalltown secret! And it was HUGE on the inside, I got lost looking for the bathroom.

Then we went for a stroll down main street, we have driven it a thousand times before and always saw the 6 or 7 restaurants with bland looking fronts. Nothing special. We walked behind them this time, not knowing that there is a very large marina behind them, and each and every one of these restaurants has a gorgeous patio over-looking the marina with a lovely walking area as well. I mean really, who knew?

And then, to my really great astonishment, we found a cheese factory. Yes, you read that right, Sandpoint has a factory that makes blue cheese (or "bleu" cheese) and you can watch the whole process. Good Heavens, I almost thought I was in Holland. Have you heard of "Litehouse" salad dressings? You find them in the salad area (kept cold) of the grocers. This is where they make them. Sandpoint. What a treasure chest of surprises.

I had the next 2 posts "saved" as drafts, and when I published them, they came up in the wrong order. So, to see why Steven is petting an elk, you need to read the post below it first.

Steven and Swift. You will notice that his antlers look "fuzzy", so here is a lesson for those of you who aren't privy to elk biology. (Probably Kayleen and Pauline...there will be questions at a later date!) A male elk looses his antlers (not horns...) every year after breeding season and grows new ones in the spring. During the initial growth phase, the antlers are covered with a soft velvet, which has blood vessels running through it to provide nutrients to the antlers, which are more of a cartiledge. Once they harden, the elk remove the velvet by rubbing on trees and branches. Often the velvet dangles down like ribbons, making the majestic elk look quite silly. The velvet is often harvested on game farms and sold as an aphrodesiac.

"How did that go again? You put your left foot in? You take your rear foot out? I'm just not sure..." Ok...so much for majestic elk...

Small Town Secrets

Well, calling this post "Small Town Secrets" is really a misnomer and it isn't as intriguing as it sounds, so let me explain. We decided to head down to the States for a day or 2 and we didn't know how long we'd be gone, since Steven still finds it hard to sit for long periods of time, plus the bumps of the highway are pretty upsetting to his innards, so we just decided to play it by ear and go until we needed to stop. That's my kind of trip anyhow...not too much planned. So we did something a little different in each of the 4 places that we stopped...things that maybe most people don't know about, perhaps. Thus, the title of Small Town Secrets.

The first stop was not so far past the border.

We drove along and when we saw "the elk ranch", we looked to see if we could see any elk as we always do, and this time there were quite a few large bulls near the fence. Usually you only see one or 2 off in the distance. I said: "Hey! Let's stop and take a picture." We pulled over to this little pull-off area, only to see a sign that said: "Plase do not park here, it stresses the elk. Visitors are welcome at the gate." So we drove over to the gate, which was really just a driveway and we pulled in and a grizzled looking fellow came over, actually wearing cover-alls and sporting a beard that looked as if it hadn't seen a trim in many a year. I momentarily thought of "Deliverance". But he was a pleasant fellow and told us we could walk up and take as many pictures as we wanted, and that he even had a pet elk that we could pat! Steven thought for sure that it was going to be a stuffed toy, or a mount, but it was a live elk named Swift. A bull elk, no less. I never thought (and nor did Steven) that I would ever get to pet ANY elk, never mind a bull! Normally they either run like the wind, or gore you. So we touched this gorgeous animal, scratched him under the chin like a big, old dog, and he just stood there for a moment or 2, then he sauntered off. It gave me goosebumps to look into his eyes, not 6 inches away.

No news.

It's been awhile since I have posted anything, but then again, it's been awhile since I have had any news. No surgeries, no kids coming or going, no dog adventures. Just to let you all know that I am alive and well I decided to show you my sunflowers. I don't really know why I plant them because I actually find them very creepy. Their neck (ok, I know it's really a stem) is way too thick, almost humanoid, and the fact that their big faces turn and follow the sun is also way too human-ish. Alien-ish. I stare at that big neck (ok, ok, stem) and I fully expect to see it pulsing with some sort of life-blood. I wonder if I cut that big yellow head off, if I would hear a scream?Or would it whip around in my hand and try to get away? Would "sap" spurt out? Perhaps I have read one too many Ray Bradbury novels....I think I'll lock the sundeck door tonight...