1. A quick reminder: when we opened Christmas gifts several months ago, Christy and I discovered that Carol had made a Sibling Outing folder, meaning that she had decided to spearhead the effort of reviving what had been an occasional event for the three of us, but now would be a monthly one.
Carol assigned each of us a month in 2025. She matched each month to a town or a neighborhood. That means one of us, each month, is in charge of planning an outing to the town or neighborhood assigned to us.
July is Carol's month and her assignment was to plan a trip for us to go to Clark Fork, a small town in the Idaho Panhandle resting near the Clark Fork River and the eastern shore of Lake Pend Oreille.
Christy and Carol and Paul had, in the past, come to the Clark Fork area on retreat or as a getaway, but I had only driven through Clark Fork and very few times.
2. Carol designed this outing so that for most of the time we were in the Camry enjoying a scenic drive.
We headed up the North Fork of the CdA River and eventually cruised past Murray and then soared over the Thompson Pass and glided into Montana.
We headed toward Thompson Falls so that we could pop into Beagles Bakery and Espresso on Hiway 200.
Beagles is a smartly appointed dog-themed enterprise. Earlier in the morning, I accidently damaged my moka pot and hadn't yet had what has become my mandatory morning latte. At Beagles, I ordered a sixteen ouncer, took it to an outside table that Christy and Carol snagged, and nearly levitated as I took my first sips of my latte.
It was perfectly prepared and not only satisfied my senses' longing for espresso and hot milk, it also cleared my head.
I hadn't actually realized that my head had felt cluttered and slow, but as the latte's caffeine worked its magic, I suddenly moved into a higher level of consciousness.
3. Newly awakened, I enjoyed the serenity of the Montana landscape as we glided north on Hiway 200.
We passed through Trout Creek, the town near where a bunch of us rented a vacation home last September and celebrated turning 70 years old.
I white-knuckled the steering wheel as we went through town, mustering all my strength not to turn into the parking lot of the Way Side Bar where I knew their gaming area was home to one of my favorites, Wolf Moon (a machine not available at the CdA Casino, nor at the two casinos in Spokane, nor at Pendleton).
My strength of will and my unwillingness to ask my sisters to sit in a bar and wait for me while I tried to hit the Moon Bonus prevailed and we continued our glide north and then west into Idaho and soon, Clark Fork.
We had planned to eat lunch at the Cabinet Mountain Bar and Grill, but it was closed until three o'clock.
Plan B: We decided to try the Clark Fork Pantry, a family owned multi-purpose business. It's a deli. A bakery. A pizzeria. An ice cream shop. The Clark Fork Pantry sells baking goods, bulk goods, and groceries along with a wide variety of huckleberry products and novelty stickers, pins, and other such items.
I continued my Swiss cheese jag and ordered a roast beef and Swiss cheese sandwich with mustard and a dill pickle and enjoyed it thoroughly with a Pepsi and a small bag of Tim's oil and vinegar potato chips.
Without knowing what lunch at Cabinet Mountain might have been like, all I can say is that I felt very fortunate that we had to turn to Plan B and eat at the Clark Fork Pantry.
I loved the vibe of The Pantry. It was fun to see how busy it became as we ate our lunch and the customers who came in were happy, the people working the counters were very friendly, and it was a feel good and taste good experience all the way around.
From Clark Fork we made our way to Hiway 95 and from CdA we blasted over the 4th of July Pass and landed safely and satisfied back home in Kellogg.
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