We took our first trip out of the country for 2025 yesterday.
The destination: Canada, Creston, and the Discovery Wildlife Center west of Creston.
The dogs had a good time as did the peeps.
The Discovery Wildlife Center resembles the Kootenai Wildlife Refuge near Bonners Ferry, although I think even the latter might have a few more birds flitting around in the cold weather.
It was pretty quiet in Canada AND cold and even icy for part of our walk.
Once we reached the open areas on the trail, walking became a lot easier thanks to bare ground.
The place presented an endless smorgasboard of sniffing for both Bridie and Foster.
I quit counting after Foster's eighth stop to sniff and to mark his territory.
The little guy is 13 now, and having to support himself while lifting his back leg that many times has become a bit more challenging.
But that didn't slow him down.
We walked well over a mile and finally turned around because, with the openness, it was pretty hard for us to lift our legs if nature came calling.
The trip was topped off by a stop at our favorite Creston restaurant, Jimmy D's.
Before entering the restaurant, we met a friendly couple from Creston.
After they engaged us in the parking lot, we stood for about 15 minutes talking.
He was a retired cop in Creston. They have seven children. Having roots in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he has been studying the Irish language for the past few years.
Both are active in the community, focusing on the disabled and Search and Rescue.
Charming, fun people, to say the least.
We probably would have visited longer, but the McKenna's were headed to a Search and Rescue gathering.
I was thrilled with the accommodating nature of Jimmy D's because I'm on an experimental no sugar/no dairy product diet.
I was able to order a salad with vinegar and oil and a tasty chicken breast.
That doesn't mean it wasn't difficult to watch Bill with his lasagna, garlic bread and salad.
Anyway, I thought it was really nice that the restaurant staff was so open to helping me enjoy a meal.
One take we brought back from our day's experience involved the comments our new friends made about having to listen to the constant news in Canada about American politics and finding it so divisive.
They are not impressed.
We agreed.
Anyway, it was a nice day and a great outing. We'll probably be taking more trips to beautiful Canada as the year rolls on.
We wanted to be home by 6 p.m. for the ZAGS game. Last night's game turned out to be a disappointment, with the ZAGS losing two games in a row.
For some reason, however, I didn't go to bed mad.
Instead, I thought about all the other storied basketball programs around the nation that are going through similar problems.
It's not just the ZAGS.
These situations will work themselves out eventually.
In the meantime, I'll keep loving the opportunity to watch our ZAGS. They may be on a losing cycle, but their individual and team efforts are still mighty fun to watch.
We LOVE the ZAGS and will continue to do so.
Guess that's all for this Sunday before a major American transition.
Enjoy the day, enjoy the simple gifts of life and family and friends and pray for the future.
And, remember where we live geographically, there's always Canada. I've heard it's not for sale.
Happy Sunday.
Finally, a nice story from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, about an appropriate anthem for the days, weeks and months ahead.
You can google this song title on YouTube to listen to it.
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