to the north.

Me: "I hope there's not much snow; I forgot my hiking boots."
Ben: "Nah, there won't be much snow..."

Sandpoint fills my need for nature. Ben Jepson, my gnarliest rugged mountain man friend, lives in Sagle just across the lake from downtown and the road that leads to Schweitzer Mountain. The Jepson house is a log cabin, build by his amazing parents who were married in the spot where the house now stands. It's so cozy; warmed night and day by a wood stove. Last year when I was in Spain, our composition professor asked us to write essays on where we would live if we could live anywhere in the world. She went around the classroom and people were saying exciting places like AUSTRALIA! and NORWAY! or THAILAND!
When she got to me, I said out loud and proud NORTH IDAHO! and she smacked me on top of my head with her notebook.

We hiked in snow that came up to my knee; Ben made deep footprints in front of me, and I jumped into each one like a pouncing fox! The snow poured into my shoes and numbed my ankles. I didn't realize until we were back at the bottom that my shoe was covered in blood where it had worn a section of skin clean off the back of my foot. Worth it! From where we stood at the top we would have been able to see the mountains in Canada, Montana, and Washington if the skies had been clear.

We chilled like the wintry weather all weekend. I chased wild turkeys around the yard till they flew over the house out of view; Ben looked forlornly out the windows going "Where's the snow??" wishing he was backcountry skiing instead of inside teaching me how to play Mancala; Ben also discovered the wonder of real whipped cream which he has never tried before. His New Years Resolution: "Never use Cool Whip again."

We walked out onto the frozen solid Round Lake. I have never walked on ice like that before! I couldn't breathe, but couldn't stop laughing, expecting the ice to suddenly crack and to fall helplessly under the water.
For the past few weeks, it feels like I have been reeling from place to place to place and the slowed momentum of being in Sandpoint brought a calmness into my soul. Like I had been simmering in an oven and finally I'm getting pulled out.