The Trecker Tree Farm and the last 350 miles

As we stated in our last post, by the time we reached the panhandle of Idaho on the evening of June 26 it was pouring down rain and about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Any thoughts of camping next to the Coeur d'Alene river were squashed. Luckily Sherrie's dad (Appropriately nicknamed Wild Joe from Idaho) was born and raised in Northern Idaho and many Treckers still live in the area. Aunt Yvonne and Uncle Rusty were kind enough to put us up last minute. After an amazingly fresh and healthy dinner, we got to bed early and were awoken by the smell of fresh huckleberry and cherry cobbler that Aunt Yvonne was baking in the oven. Joanna had never had huckleberries before, a point made by Sherrie at dinner. Of course Yvonne would have frozen huckleberries on hand because that's just the type of awesome that she is.

We all chatted in the early morning, coffee in hand, and it made Sherrie really appreciate how lucky she was to have her dad's 10 brothers and sisters to call aunts and uncles, and an area like Idaho to spend her childhood. The memories of bucking bails of hay all day just to find out that dinner was the only payment she'd get, picking berries with Grandma, climbing stupidly steep rock faces with Philip, fishing with Dad, gathering eggs, cooking dinners for 50 people (and cleaning dishes of 50 people) came flooding back.

We made a quick stop at the Trecker Tree Farm in Cataldo to show Joanna the 140 acre property that Sherrie spent most summers visiting, and to say goodbye to Grandpa, Dottie (Sherrie's step grandma), and Aunt Terry. The waters are unusually high this year (200% more than normal), and the field below the farm is still a giant pond. Aunt Terry says that people periodically park off of the road and try to fish the pond, not knowing that it's just a flooded field. None of the Treckers stop them.

The drive from Cataldo to Seattle took just under 5 hours and we managed to miss most of Seattle's rush hour traffic. Joanna caught her first ever live glimpse of the Seattle skyline and Mount Rainier as we drove over the I-90 bridge. After quickly unloading the car, we headed to Pike Place Market to buy groceries for dinner. Dinner was roasted fresh veggies, Alaskan cod, and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from the Mazzocco winery in Healdsburg, enjoyed on Sherrie's condominium rooftop while the sun set over the Puget Sound.

Joanna counting using the famed abacus on top of Russell Investments Center in Seattle.