Buckle Up – Destination: Idaho

I write this post sitting at a patio table overlooking the mountains, lakes, and river in Sandpoint, ID. Just writing that sentence strikes me as surreal.. So much so, that I’ve asked myself, “Whose life is this and what the hell are we doing in Idaho!!??”, out loud a few times in the past few weeks.

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I never envisioned that my life would be what it is now, or WHERE it is now. Growing up, my view of what life would be like was actually pretty small. Not in a bad way, just more traditionally speaking. I envisioned growing up, going off to college, getting a job, getting married, and having kids – you know, the usual.. I did get to do all of the things I’ve mentioned. But it was NOT even close to being in the way I could have ever imagined. Not even my wildest dreams could have dreamt this life. More on ALL of that a little later…but first, I tell you this:

The Pitch That Changed Everything

First, was the “vacation”. When my husband came back from a hunting trip in 2018, he asked if I had ever been to Idaho. I casually said, “I think I was in Boise once for work”. At that moment, nothing in my brain, not a cell in my body, or a single ounce of my being thought “Get ready, we’re going to live three one day”.

Our house hunt started out as what was supposed to be a Valentines’ Day trip. My husband pitched the idea to me as some time to “relax, see the area, enjoy some time together”. Sounded like a GREAT plan to me! I mean, what mom doesn’t want a relaxing vacation with her husband? We’re going to Idaho!

How We Got To Idaho

Since I’m not crazy about road trips, we took a plane from Kansas to Idaho. On our flight, we chatted about what we were going to eat, and places to drink. Okay, it was mostly me talking about what kind of massage I was going to get. I remember joking about how much of my body could be magically turned back into a 20-year-old. During this conversation, we ebbed into small talk about what Idaho was going to be like. This was mostly my husband telling me how much I was going to LOVE IT.

Towards the end of the flight, this very unassuming woman tapped my shoulder. When I turned around she said, “Hi, I’m Laurie and I sell real estate in-and-around the Coeur d’Alene area. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I heard you talking about checking out real estate while you are in town?” About this time I’m telling myself, “THIS is why I needn’t talk so mother-loving LOUD!”. My hearing is awful, no, terrible – wait – it’s terribly awful. That is unless it is someone chewing with their mouth open. Which I can hear across a crowded restaurant with a jazz band playing and airliners buzzing the windows.

As I took her card I said, “um, more so just going to wander around and take it all in”. She is one of those people that shows her soul through her eyes. I could tell she was kind and was genuinely super excited for us to explore the area. We parted ways through the push and shove of exiting the plane (why do people do that? We are ALL trying to exit the plane. You breathing hot air on my neck and stepping on the heels of my shoes is not going to get you out ANY faster). We bumped into each other once again at baggage claim. That’s when we said our goodbyes, nice-to-meet you’s, enjoy your trip, yadda yadda. We grabbed our bags and were off to our hotel.

Welcome to Idaho

We checked into our hotel in Coeur d’Alene which was just LOVELY! (If you get the chance to check out the Coeur d’Alene Golf and Spa Resort I highly recommend it!). I mentioned to my husband that the guy checking in before us looked super familiar….he whispers back, “that’s Ray Liotta”. If you’ve EVER seen ANY mob movie – you know who he is. I was more gobsmacked than one should be coming from an Italian family. As he and his wife turned around to walk to their room, they took ONE look at my husband’s beard and said “wow, welcome to Idaho….”. (His beard is of epic proportions.

We can be out to dinner and have full-grown men stop by our table just to complement his beard. At first, it was strange. Then I remembered how many times I’ve complimented a complete stranger. “Oh, I Love your shoes”. “What a beautiful dress”. I guess this is the guy version of that?) Anyhow, I tell you that because we didn’t live in Idaho – yet I guess my husband already looked the part. (THIS is The Beard in its early stage. I’d be remiss not to mention he shaves it every year. Oh, and only has it for about 4 months – yet it’s semi-famous in some circles).

Miss the last post about this Idaho adventure? Read the previous post Ida-WHAT?

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