The trip to Solomon Mtn. Lookout (or, "We Miss the Lake Turnoff")

Solomon lake is hidden away in between the mountains north of Bonners Ferry Idaho.   Now, it has a nice campground area, which you will see in the accompanying  video.

However, back in the early 1950's; it had none of that.

The road leading to Solomon Lake back then was little more than a trail, and parts of it could be so muddy, we had to drive the old Buick clear off of the road and through the brush to get to the lake, especially early in the summer before things had dried out.

Not only that, but there were all sorts of interconnecting Forest Service roads on the way to Solomon Lake, and there were absolutely NO markers to tell you which was the right road to take at an intersection.

One fine Saturday morning,  we were headed up to Solomon Lake for a weekend of camping and fishing. Our Buick was loaded down with camping equipment, food, picnic plates, and the cast iron skillet that mom always used to cook over the campfire.

Behind us, was Grandpa Bailey in his 1950 Ford wiith the old wooden boat on top, and behind him was his daughter and son-in-law, Adeline and Jim King,  and their family, driving their snazzy little Nash.

Somehow, we missed a turn, and since it was impossible to stop or turn around, we just kept driving and finally ended up on top of one of the mountains surrounding Solomon Lake.

At the top, we were able to turn around and head back down again, although it was fast getting towards dark.

In the dark; it was even harder to find the right turns, and we missed the turnoff for the lake yet again.

A couple of hours later (traveling at about 5 mph the whole time) we reached the top again, this time at Solomon Lookout, on the top of Solomon Mountain.

Since it was so late, and no one wanted to chance missing the turn-off for the third time; we made a hasty camp that night at the lookout-----with no water source, naturally.

The next morning, we woke early to discover a big black bear investigating our camp; so we quickly decided to forgo any kind of breakfast and headed back down the mountain.

I guess the third time was the charm because this time, we happily ended up at the lake, and enjoyed the rest of the weekend camping there.

The lake is actually longer than it looks in this video because it is kind of like an hourglass shape; so it seems to end, goes through the narrow part, and then widens out into the second part of the lake .

(the video is one I found on Youtube)

http://youtu.be/bze0NafsavQ

Christmas Shopping in Spokane With my Mother.

  My  mother loved Christmas shopping ! !

 I think that she would buy things during the year when she found something on sale, but when the Christmas season came, then we spent days in the stores, finding just the perfect presents for everyone. 

We lived in Sandpoint, a small town of about 5.000 people, so there was not a lot to be found there; but a 2 hour drive away was Spokane, WA, a much larger city. 

I don't know if they still do it; but back in the Fifties, every window in every store had some sort of a Christmas scene, or at least whatever was in the store windows was "Christmas-ified". Many of the Christmas scenes were animated, and had some sort of sound or music as well. 

We spent many hours just wandering around the blocks and looking at the wonderful Christmas displays. 
My mother went to stores like "The Crescent" and "Bon Marche", and they also had Christmas decorations and scenes all through the stores, plus a whole "Santa's Workshop" with elves and toys and all sort of wonderous things for a child to look at and thrill over. 

Lunch was the Newberry's special: turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce; which we ate sitting at their lunch counter.

 I think it cost about $2 for the special. 

The stores had giftwrappers, so sometimes my mom had the presents wrapped at the store; others we took home and she wrapped hersilf. 

She had one of those little fancy bowmakers, so we had lots of colored ribbon and made pretty bows for all of the presents. 
Before we came back home, we usually drove through some of the streets that had special Christmas decorations on their houses. 

It was (of course) always very dark before we even came close to heading back home, and probably midnight when we actually got back home again. 

Such wonderful times we had at Christmas, and I am so thankful to have those wonderful memories of my Mother and going Christmas shopping together.

 

Christmas at the house on Ella Street.....

From as early as I can remember, I have loved Christmas Trees !  My dad worked for the power company, so he was out in his big line truck every day. Throughout the year, he would spot what he deemed a perfect Christmas tree, and when it was time for us to put up our tree; he would cut it down (with his hand saw, of course) and bring it home tied on top of the line truck. 

My mother had old ornaments that they had saved for years, and some that my grandparents had put on their Christmas tree. One was a parrot made out of a piece of construction paper and colored by hand, and my dad had made it back when he was in First Grade.  That parrot always had a special place on every Christmas Tree. The ornaments were very delicate, and carefully packed away every year and put in large boxes on the top shelf of the bedroom closet. 
The garlands were next, and then the tinsel (actually made of tin back then, and very breakable) went on top. 
On the top of the tree was a very old ceramic-type of Christmas Angel, and she also had a little golden light  that illuminated her. 

The only kind of lights that we ever had on our Christmas tree were Bubble Lights. How I loved those Bubble Lights ! In the evenings, we turned off all of the lights in the front room, and just enjoyed the lights from the Christmas tree reflecting in the shining ornaments.  
Mom would put on the Bing Crosby Christmas Carols record on the little phonograph, and as we listened to White Christmas, and watched the flickering Bubble Lights; the world was perfect.

Of course, underneath the tree were the boxes of presents , all carefully wrapped by my mother, some to be opened on Christmas Eve, and some not until Christmas Morning.  
On the old buffet (that had belonged to my Grandmother) was usually a plate of homemade fudge, and a very, very old wooden church that my German grandmother had brought over when she came to America in 1901. 
I have no idea how long it had been in her family before that; but it had a music box inside that we could wind up and it played "Silent Night".   
The little church was painted white and sparkled with something that looked like snow. Inside was a little red Christmas light that made the cellophane windows of the church light up.  

Even though our house was nothing special, when Christmas came; it was a Magic World all of its own.....