Wednesday, August 12, 2009 New Meadows, ID

This really has been a delightful day off and given me an opportunity for a much needed rest. My roommate and I woke up early and enjoyed a cup of good coffee before strolling down to the Granite Mountain Cafe for the Wednesday breakfast special. Suffice it to say - it was a great alternative to the usual oatmeal. :) New Meadows is basically a crossroads, though there is a school and a library. It only takes about 5 minutes to survey the town. Back at the Inn I noticed my back tire was flat - couldn't happen at a more convenient place. Evidently on Tuesday I managed to pick up a piece of tire wire (try saying that 3 times real fast). Tire wire is worse than glass, because you can't see it to avoid it. Often it causes a slow leak that doesn't show up for some hours - even overnight. How nice for me that several friends helped me change out the tube. Pat drove up just in time to pump it to 110 lbs. . . Two of our tour group have second homes in McCall (about 10 miles up the mountain) on beautiful Lake Payette and their husbands invited our entire group to arrive about 1:30 to swim, boat, sun, read - whatever, at the Johnson's home or to arrive at 4:30 for supper. Pat R. took Ramsey, Virginia and me on sort of a private tour of the area. McCall is 10 miles up along a twisty road with no shoulder. Fortunately, it's not on our route for tomorrow. McCall is a lovely resort community that was packed today with bicyclists on a layover day with Cycle Idaho and a huge number of Harley cyclists having lunch there from no telling where. This is neat - when a pedestrian wants to cross the street, he takes an orange flag on a stick from a container, holds it up like a crossing guard, and walks. All cars stop. Amazing! We drove around this huge, beautiful lake (reminded me of Pickwick) to a now more or less defunct hot springs resort built by a German immigrant named Burgdorf in 1865. It's 6600 ft. up the mountain and has a natural hot springs pool. At one time he ran a resort hotel and rented cabins for folks attracted to the warm water. There also was a store and a post office. Today, some of the cabins still exist and are used periodically. The old photographs were really interesting. One of them included Teddy Roosevelt, Wyatt Earp, and others whose names I've forgotten. :(( It's heyday was around the turn of the century. Next, we stopped by a private home located on the lake and toured the owner's garden which is open to the public. The flowers were amazing - daisies, phlox, lillies, pink and white astilbe that looked like bushes, and all kinds of plants that I couldn't name - all beautifully maintained in manicured beds along with little waterfalls here and there. There was, of course, a good watering system. Next, we drove to Roseberry, a town established in 1905. Today it is basically a reconstructed village of empty homes and stores but draws a large crowd for an annual music fest. We peeked into the houses and got a perspective of how the pioneers lived. The General Store, now an antique store, was, unfortunately, closed on Wednesday. Back in McCall, we picked up Alice and drove to our friend's home on Lake Payette for the hamburger cookout. The men outdid themselves with grilled burgers (Ed's own Kobe cattle), homemade potato salad, sliced tomatoes and stuffed eggs, all followed by banana splits. The Johnson home (Nancy calls it a cabin) was quite lovely as it sits close to the water and faces a range of mountains. Her flowers were every bit as beautiful as the garden we toured earlier. . . Thanks again, Pat, Nancy, Kay and spouses for a lovely day off.