Another Gorgeous Week in Idaho

Hey guys! I'm still having fun in Idaho. Hiked to Farley Lake this week- beautiful if buggy hike. Damn the blisters!

Friday was Pat's birthday. Yes, I'm dating a younger (by a half a month) man- I know, I know, I'm living on the edge! He got a cake in the shape of a clay pigeon and we had another porch gathering, complete with a little dancing. I also directed a re-enactment of the Inner date LYLAS sketch, performed by my fellow employees. It was great fun!

Sunday evening we went camping at the same sweet spot by the river again. The campsite is only about two miles away from the ranch and ranch living is great, but it's lovely to be away from everyone just a little bit.

Monday we pretended we were tourists. We went to the Fish Hatchery. The adult Chinook were huge! The picture of the duck was taken on the pond there. Then we went to the Stanley History Museum. Miners founded the town, tourism took it from there. There was a claim by another hotel that they had the first electricity in the valley (IRMR claims the same thing), so I'll have to do some research before I tell more guests about our ranch's importantly progressive firstdom.

There was also a poem in the museum about the bliss of being out here and feeling sorry for those who lived in cities. I can say that I love it here and it definitely is a completely different lifestyle which I'm enjoying for the most part, but I'm beginning to miss have a few more options of how to fill my free time. Pat and I are working our way through the DVDs of 30Rock- yes, all of you who couldn't understand that I wasn't watching that show weekly were correct- I've been completely missing out. And I've found myself searching for things to do. I like hiking, but I guess I'm not a regular hiker- have I said this before? I think so.

Oh, and by far, the most relaxing part of this week was this morning. I used the wonderful gift certificate that Lia, Laura, Jenn, Tara & Eileen gave me for my birthday and got a mango honey butter massage. WOW! I feel melty. Elisha (the masseuse) spread mango honey butter on me, massaged it off with hot towels and then gave me a regular massage. Did I say WOW? again wow!