Debbie and I piled into the Sube just before 9:00 and wound our way down the Scenic White Pine Byway, Idaho State Highway 3, with its splendid views of thick pines, cedars, and other coniferous trees, the glassy Chain Lakes, reedy marshes, and remote small towns like Fernwood, Clarkia, and Bovill.
We arrived in Deary in a couple of hours and met up with Christy, Everett, Carol, Paul, Cosette, and Molly at Deary's lone public school building, home to the the senior high school, junior high school, and a half of the elementary grades (the others go to Bovill). My niece, Molly, recently landed her first teaching job at Deary where she teaches special ed. We all got together at the Deary school so Molly could show us her classroom and office and give us a tour of the building.
Molly's road to finishing high school and college and now being hired as full-time teacher has been trying for a variety of reasons. Over the years, I've watched Molly stick with her studies and navigate other challenges in her life. I worked with many students at LCC who were similar to Molly. They were in their twenties. They weren't conforming to the traditional timeline of finishing college in four years and then getting some kind of career under way. Again and again and again, I saw how it's common for young people to need more time to figure things out, to come to understand their place in the world, to recognize their talents and put them to work. I've seen this play out in our home. Having worked with 20-40 years old all those years at LCC and having seen how Adrienne, Patrick, and Molly have grown into such fine adults has always given me confidence that, in time, Molly would work things out and so will Zoe and Cosette.
Because it was Saturday, so no students were at the school, I didn't see Molly in action; nonetheless, as she showed us around and explained her work, for the first time, I saw Molly as a professional, as coming into her own, as more forthright and forthcoming than I had ever seen before.
It was the highlight of our trip.
2. After visiting the school, we caravanned over to the Pie Safe Bakery in Deary, a handsome bakery and cafe in the heart of downtown. I think I'm correct when I say the building also houses a creamery -- I didn't work very hard to figure out what was what -- but, I do know that the space was airy, filled with colorful and tasteful decor, and I know that my turkey sandwich was very tasty. I spent a little time giving the baked goods a look -- pies, sweet rolls, etc. -- and they looked superb.
Cosette's birthday was on September 5th and I lost track of how many times today things we were doing were in celebration of her birthday. I know our dinner later in the day was a birthday dinner and I think this lunch was a birthday lunch, but, to be honest, I have trouble keeping up.
Debbie, Christy, and Everett returned to Kellogg after lunch. Carol and Paul visited Molly and Cosette's residences.
3. I went on a solo trip, down the curvy road and through the golden fields of wheat to Kendrick. I wanted to sample some of the beers at Hardware Brewing. Don and Shelley and Marcy went there late in July and invited me to join them and I was busy with a trip to Spokane and couldn't make it down. But, Shelley sent me a picture from the brewery, Don spoke highly of their Oatmeal Stout, and, being in Deary, I was just twenty minutes away from Kendrick, so I drove down.
I'd been in the brewery's building before. When Mom and I made one of our trips to Orofino, we stopped at Kendrick, maybe on our way back to Kellogg, and ate lunch when this former hardware store was a cafe.
The Lohmans established the brewery here in 2016 after renovating the building, exposing the original brick work, using wood from the original building for trim work on the inside and around the entry doors. It's a roomy space. Historical relics and old pictures hang on the walls. It's comfortable and welcoming. I enjoyed being in this room a lot.
Turns out the beer was very good, too. One of the owners, Christine Lohman, was working the bar and I ordered a flight, four 5 oz glasses of Hardware Brewing's Orange Hefeweizen, Red Nail Ale (an Irish Red Ale), 1904 IPA, and Bolt Cutter Black Oatmeal Stout. Given what I was in the mood for today, the only one of these beers I would not have ordered in a full pour was the Red Nail Ale, but on a cooler day or on a day when I was in the mood for a more malt forward beer, it would no doubt be great. It's a very popular beer at Hardware, but simply wasn't what I wanted today. I very much enjoyed the other three beers and ordered a 10 oz pour of the 1904 IPA.
I took my time drinking my beers and drinking water. I listened to conversations going on around me and I very much enjoyed what I considered the Alternative Country music being played on Pandora over the house system -- think Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel". Maybe there's a better name for this genre of music, but whatever it is, it was perfect today.
Back in the Sube, I ate the other half of my sandwich I'd taken in a box from the Pie Safe and soon I headed up State Highway 99 to Troy and then onto Highway 8 and eased on into Moscow. I parked the car near where we'd be having dinner and strolled over to Paradise Ridge, a used cd and record shop, hoping to find some Tom Rush, Old Crow Medicine Show, Mose Allison, or Dr. John, but I didn't
We had a lot of fun at dinner. Molly's husband Travis works at La Casa Lopez and so we saw a lot of him which was wonderful. The restaurant's owner and several other of the serving staff came by the table to say hello to Molly and meet the rest of us. I ordered the highly recommended margarita made from scratch, enjoyed it, and ordered chicken strips (not breaded) prepared in mole sauce. Cosette's pal Jesus joined us and we had a festive, almost rambunctious time together, laughing, eating, celebrating Cosette's birthday and enjoying one another's company.
I arrived back in Kellogg around 9:00.
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