Lake Pend Oreille

This weekend was spent in Idaho at Lake Pend Oreille, celebrating Ann Marie’s 30th birthday.  Kevin was in a wedding friday night, so we couldn’t leave until saturday morning which made for a long haul into Idaho.  Kelli & Kevin picked Lauren up first, then arrived at my door around 5:15am.  whew!  Lauren and I hadn’t seen each other in awhile so we started chatting immediately, not to the delight of our drivers who had only gotten a couple hours sleep (and yes we offered to drive so they could rest, but were denied.)

We made good time and stopped off in Spokane first to get snacks, drinks and caramel corn from Kelli’s mom.  We almost made a 10:00am call at Zips, but I only got a milkshake because the menu at this Zip’s was not as expansive as the one in Ritzville.  Fully loaded up, we zoomed across Highway 2 to our final destination, arriving at the cabin just after noon.

A little trivia about the lake:  Lake Pend Oreille is in the northern panhandle, with a surface area of 148 square miles. It is 65 miles (105 km) long, and 1,150 feet (350 m) deep in some regions, making it the fifth deepest in the United States, and the thirteenth deepest in the world. It is surrounded by national forests and a few small towns, with the largest population on the lake at Sandpoint. The forests are the only Boreal forests in the contiguous United States.  The area around the Lake is the traditional home of the Kalispell Indian peoples. A French fur trapper who entered the region in the 1800s is believed to have given the lake its name. The words “Pend Oreille” are French for an ear-hanging or pendant. Ear pendants were characteristic of the Kalispell tribe. The lake is shaped much like a human ear when viewed from above or on a map.

The next 24 hours were spent lounging on the dock reading Heat (about a guy working in Mario Batali’s kitchen), catching some rays, eating, drinking huckleberry margaritas at the Bottle Bay Marina, riding in the boat, walking around the lake, playing volleyball, sitting around the fire, hanging on the deck.  But mostly laying on the dock.  I haven’t really had 24 hours to do nothing in a long time and it was great just laying there, reading in the sunshine.

Sunday night we had dinner at the cabin, then drove back to Spokane for the night.  On the way we sereneded Kevin with our compulsory road trip song, BSB “I want it that way.”  We also called Mar so she wouldn’t miss out.  Kevin rose to the occasion with some impressive front seat boy band choreography.  And of course, since we had been with Ann Marie, we had to call and sing “One Shining Moment” for her.  It was her birthday after all.

Monday morning, we got up early and hit the road for home, landing back in the big city at lunchtime.