Beautiful Inland Pacific NW life outdoors
Dogs Have Fun wrestling and pinning the opponent. These two have fun, looking like warfare! Max and Hilti are in the kitchen.
When my family visits, they usually bring their dogs along. Luckily, as a family, most of us do love dogs! Here are Hilti (Sam and Jess’s) and Max (Pete and Val’s) playing in the kitchen while we visit and play cards. The other voice you hear is my cousin Jeannie (Sam’s Mom) on the speakerphone in Colorado as we watch the 2 “cousin dogs” play.
Ski resorts are great places in the summer too! Checkout Mount Spokane State Park (This is quoted from their website) for a ton of fun things to do:
In addition to alpine winter recreation, the Park offers year-round recreation including nordic skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, camping, horseback riding, biking and hiking trails, berry picking, sightseeing, and more.
You can get a map of the park
We drove up a gravel access road and parked, then went for a short and easy half-day hike.
It is amazing to see the ski runs without snow on them. They seem a lot steeper in summer because you are actually walking up the hill not riding a lift, so the rate of ascent is more noticeable and sticks in the memory.
This hill has great views of the ski area and so much more. Gazing from the summit in summer can take your breath away.
There are many types of flora (including Huckleberries) and fauna birds, four-legged critters, and scurrying little guys, in lots of kinds of well-maintained trails. Inviting photographers to take mucho happy clicks home. The variety of trails, terrains, and spots to see is quite extensive. Check out their website which gives 47 things to do in the park if you run out of ideas.
We discovered some historic structures while we were there including the Civilian Conservation Corps Cabin (CCC) which we posed beside, and it is 
not much further up the hill to see the Vista House both built in the 1930s. This park is another Inland Northwest “gem” for outdoor lovers.
We took an easy hike this weekend, our destination was “Granite Falls” just above Nordman and Priest Lake ID. It was a bright sunny day but there was a noticeable chill in the air whenever you were in the shade. You can see there were still patches of snow. It was a total departure from blue screen hypnosis or chatter for us.
Nature in the Inland Northwest. Ahhhhh! Going up just past Nordman ID and Priest Lake to a Cedar Forest Reserve is Granite Falls trail.
This is a short hike 1.5 miles on a well-maintained trail with easy grade and many switchbacks through huge noble cedars reaching up high into the air. There are many places to experience the roar of water cascading over solid granite formation, where you are chilled by the moisture in the air.
Wow! the power of moving water. Makes you see how small we are in the whole system of nature. This was a revealing adventure for our family to take together. It was as though our souls were able to surface and share more meaningful expressions of emotion and thought as we journeyed through the beauty. It was an inspiring afternoon full of amazing natural wonder and an infusion of beauty.