North Idaho Backcountry

 Sunday was a gorgeous day for a backcountry drive and a little Geocaching. The temp was in the high-60s/low-70s all day and it was sunny with pretty puffy clouds. Lyle planned a route taking us down along the St. Joe River and then up over Moon Pass back to I-90 and then home again.

We found 5 Geocaches and were turned back from 3 others we intended to look for. That was all part of the adventure! Can you spot the cache in this picture?

 Being the intrepid explorers we are, we didn't let a little thing like a Road Closed sign turn us back. The road looked perfectly fine to us, so we decided to keep going (realizing, of course, that we would likely have to turn around).

 And several miles on down the road we found out what Road Closed meant. Maybe "Road Gone" would have been more accurate? Lyle considered the situation and thought he might be able to get past the ravine by driving up on the bank just a little bit. Needless to say, I convinced him otherwise, so we logged that cache as a Did Not Find.

 Later in the day we were turned back on another road by downed trees and snow. We really hadn't expected snow to be an issue this late in the season, but Lyle and Becky walked ahead and said there was snow over the road just around the curve.

The caches we did find were:

• A Little Bit of Texas
• St. Joe City
• Dustin's Cache
• Lone Rock Overview
• Quad Tree

We also stopped by our own cache, Silver Valley View, which we originally placed in 2002. It's still active, so we checked to make sure it was still in good condition and restocked it with some fresh trade items.

 

 We enjoyed the beautiful scenery all day long. 

Summer Saturdays

The past 2 or 3 summers I have managed to convince the Man of the Place that a fun "date" is to take me garage-saling on Saturday mornings. We pick out the "Saturday only" garage sales listed in the Nickel's Worth, he programs Rhoda (our GPS), we stop at the ATM and then our favorite coffee kiosk, and we're off. Some weeks we find very little. Other weeks we spend our full "allowance" (usually $40-$60). It doesn't really matter. It's just fun.

Yesterday was our first garage sale expedition for this summer. As we waited for our coffee, he asked me, "What are we looking for?" Umm... well... I'm not really sure. I'll know it when I see it. But... umm... clothes, if we can find any that fit... and umm... well, you know, pretty vintage dishes and stuff. Can't you imagine how excited the man is to set off on a shopping trip with such a vague list? He kinda smirked at me, but good-naturedly followed Rhoda to our first "destination" (that's what she calls Garage Sales).

It turned out to be a good day for bargains. We got a nice 2-person swing for the backyard (like a porch swing, only on a stand), a vintage floor lamp for the family room, some books, games, and puzzles for Becky, some jeans, hand-towels, and a nice purse-- all for less than $50.

But my favorite find?

This sweet vintage plate and three pretty hankies for a grand total of $1.25!

This is what I'm really looking for at garage sales. Just a wee bit of vintage loveliness to add to my "parlor" decor. I love finding just a bit at a time like this, because then it doesn't cost very much, plus I don't end up with more stuff than I know what to do with.

Want to read about more garage sale finds? Visit the Garage Sale Treasures meme @ My Life on a Taffy Pull.

Recycled Apron

My mother made this cute apron for Becky out of an old pair of jeans. I don't really have a story to tell about it. I just thought you'd like to see it!

Animal Collectibles

A couple of years ago for Christmas my parents started a collection of Schleich animals for Becky. She really enjoys her collection and would add to it with every bit of pocket money she ever received if we would just let her! We think it makes it more special for her to just get a few occasionally, so we told her she can't buy them for herself. My parents bring her one or two every time they come, and she usually gets a few for Christmas and her birthday. She treasures each of them.

A few weeks ago, I happened across a giveaway of Schleich animals on Have Sippy Will Travel. It was a collection of 7 animals that Becky didn't already have. Samantha offered several ways to enter and I think I did them all! I knew Becky would be thrilled if I won. I didn't tell her I had entered, though, until I got the notification a few days later that I had actually won! (Thank you, Samantha, for the great giveaway and for making the extra effort to get in touch with me.)

Becky was very excited to add to her collection the Water Buffalo daddy and Calf, the Warthog Family (complete with both parents), and the Lion daddy and Cub.

When my parents came this time they brought her the Kangaroo. And then she used some money PaPa gave her to get the Lipizzaner stallion. (We let her get just one since the money was a gift.) She loves to pore over the catalog to think about what animal she might get next. Her collection is steadily growing.

How Huge the Night - giveaway

I accidentally got signed up twice to review How Huge the Night by Heather and Lydia Munn. Consequently, I received two copies of it. I thought it was a wonderful book and I am really looking forward to the sequel. You can read my full review here.

Since I have 2 copies I am going to offer my extra copy as a giveaway. If you would like to be entered in the drawing for this inspiring novel about World War II please leave a comment on this post. Mention that you're a follower of my blog for an extra entry. I will select a winner on July 1. (US addresses only please.)