Land of Lewis & Clark, Day Three

Woke early to learn that it had been snowing all night. It looked beautiful... I put on my borrowed boots and stepped outside to wait for our participant to pick us up.

We set out for Clearwater National Forest. Since this isn't really a walking town, we made our way through the somewhat plowed streets. Finally, we left the houses behind and said hello to thousands of "Christmas trees."

We walked until we reached an area that had been cleared out. Weippe is a logging town, and it's one of the main employers in the area. It's not an easy sight, compared with the awesomeness we walked to get there.

We eventually made our way back, to make sure that we wouldn't be late for work. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast and off to the car we went, to clear out the snow.

Our participant also asked us to come over to the Art Show the High School students were going to have in the neighboring town of Pierce. The towns share one High School. After work she came to our cabins and picked us up in her pick up truck accompanied by her husband and the Mayor. The High School doesn't have an art program, and the kids get to put the show thanks to the volunteer efforts of some of the towns citizens.

It was pretty cool - the kids were very excited and got to see their work displayed in a "gallery" which consisted of someone's store front. There were photographs and paintings, drawings and woodwork.
After supporting the kiddies, the Mayor took us to dinner to The Vug, a bar/pool/restaurant place right across the street. A pool tournament was going on.

I went for something safe and easy: cream of broccoli soup and grilled cheese.

I've had better. But it took the hunger away and as they say: beggars can't be choosers. At The Vug we also met a real life gold digger: he's the owner of the place and apparently also owns land somewhere in Pierce and it's fighting to keep it and its gold. He showed us what a real gold nugget looks like, before it goes through whatever it goes through in order to be jewelry. It was quite the busy day though, and I was glad. I fell asleep on the back of the pick up as they drove us back to our cabins and I am glad that I had established silence in the car on the way down, because hopefully no one noticed. Tired for sure.