Nice Surprise

Late yesterday afternoon, we decided to venture out to the mountains for a drive, and some exploration. We entered behind Twin Lakes, on private paper company property, which you have to have a permit to enter. We had not ventured up this way before, so we did not have a clue where we would end up. The lady checking us in told us they were logging on 10, so it was closed. We were a bit concerned we would end up in the middle of the logging operation because our previous experience has shown us that they aren't very good at marking their roads on their land, and their maps leave much to be desired. We came upon many roads, and 10 was actually marked '10.' We took 8. We kept looking at the map, but really didn't know where we were, but we were up for adventure, so we kept going. We came around a corner, and we were looking at huge condos, and we were way up in the mountains. We both looked at each other and wondered why they were developing so high up in the mountains. Suddenly, a light came on, and we realized we were straight across from Mt. Spokane.

We kept driving, enjoying the Bear Grass and the beauty, and amazingly we took the correct roads and made it to Mt. Spokane State Park. While in the park, we decided to take the road that said Vista House. Wow, we are so glad we did. Amazing views from the top. You can see eight lakes when you are up there, and you feel very much like you are on top of the world!! It was a bit nippy, but I figured that left less chance of picking up a creepy crawler in the form of a tick, so I endured it. The overwhelming beauty left us speechless. The world suddenly looked very small.

On our way down, we knew there was some place to cut across, to avoid going to north Spokane, but we didn't know where it was since this was our first venture to Mt. Spokane, so we just guessed, thinking we would end up at Neumann Lake. I glanced at the GPS unit, and it showed we were actually driving away from Neumann Lake, but we kept going, as the GPS showed we were nearing Trentwood. We ended up on Forker Road, and watched a dozen or so deer along the way, as they enjoyed dining in the lush grass fields. We were also blessed to partake in an incredible sunset over a wheat field. Finally, we came to an area we had been before and we made it home just after dark.

It always seems to leave my heart smiling when we just go and find places like that, on accident. Maybe it wasn't an accident at all and God kept directing us through the maze of roads so we would end up enjoying the majesty of His creation, once again.