Black Friday, Quiet Sunday

It was a crazy, busy weekend with family. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Sandpoint with family. Thursday night, my mom, sister, and my nieces came home with us so we could go shopping on Friday. Kmart was our first stop at 6:30, and there were way too many people for me! We then went to Rite Aid, Sportsman's Warehouse, and Black Sheep all of which were smaller crowds, nice clerks, and good sales. We ventured over to Costco to grab a few things, and it was busy in there, but bearable. We then went for lunch at GW Hunters, and for some reason we lost our sanity for a few moments and went to Cabela's. NEVER AGAIN will we venture to Cabela's on a day like that! I think there were more people in the store than live in Bonner County! It was insane, and many of the shoppers were quite rude, thinking that someone may beat them to a deal if they offered any politeness or cordialness to others. I didn't have anything to shop for in there, and was just trying to take my nieces to see the aquarium and the animal displays, but after a man hit my three year old niece in the head and didn't apologize, but looked at us like we were in the wrong even though he cut in front of us, I decided we had enough and we waited up front for my mom and sis. We went back to my house and enjoyed some peace and quiet, well as much quiet as you get with a three and four year old in the house! ha It took us until the next morning to get over the trauma of walking in Cabela's with the hoards of people! Well actually, I still think my mom is having post traumatic stress disorder over the whole ordeal.

Today, my hubby and I opted for a more serene setting and headed to the mountains before the massive snow storm they are predicting hits the area, and we won't be able to go up to enjoy the serenity of going for a mountain drive for at least five months. It was a cold day, but it was so beautiful in the woods. We forgot to grab the saw, so weren't able to get our Christmas tree but the day was filled with beautiful scenery. We found a dusting of snow, and trees brushed with ice. The setting was picture perfect.

As we came around an icy corner, we spotted a cow moose above the road. She wasn't much for showing herself off to us, so she trotted up the hillside, into the trees. A few hundred feet down the road, I spotted a cow moose and calf below the road, nibbling on trees. The calf went closer to mom, but other than that, they were pretty unaffected by us sitting and watching them for a good half an hour. On our way out of that area, we spotted another cow moose on a hillside, who I am sure had spotted us before we spotted her.

We decided to take another road, and as we were traveling along it, I noticed some fresh moose tracks. We came around a corner and there were three ATV's sitting in the road. One of the kids came running back and told us there were three moose in the road ahead, and they wouldn't move. They decided to play it safe and turn around, but we were in our pickup so went around the corner to see the moose. Sure enough, momma moose had the road blocked!!

She did not have any intentions of moving, either, and if a moose does not want to move, you certainly don't make them move. Unlike the ATV's, we did not have anywhere to turn our pickup around without backing up for quite aways, so we waited, and we waited some more, and mama moose kept giving us a dirty look, and we were wondering at one point if she would charge us with the look she was giving us.

After half an hour, she finally moved off the road, along with one calf. Yes, the other stayed up on the road, eating those bushes you see, for another five minutes. The second to last thing you want to do is to push a moose. The last thing you want to do, is to get between a mama moose and her baby! So, we waited awhile longer and finally jr. moose decided to go with mom. By this time it was almost dark. We found out the road ended up ahead about 1/2 a mile, with a nice wide turn around. The snow and ice were even more beautiful as the sky turned to a dark blue-gray, and darkness settled in.

We felt totally blessed as we traveled down the mountain in the dark. God not only painted us a beautiful picture to enjoy throughout the afternoon, but he put seven moose in the scene to add even more enjoyment to our day.