off the grid

i'm quite certain that if there's anyone who needed a break from the rat race (especially the monstrosities i tend to compete against, you know, the sort that not only run you ragged, but also yearn to eat you whole) it was me. so i felt very *very* fortunate to be invited to my uncle and aunt's house on lake coeur d'alene, in northern idaho (about 100 miles south of the candadian border), for a few days.

i don't think this family retreat could possibly have been better timed. and while i thought it sounded relaxing, i really had no idea know what i was getting into - that i was headed to a place so remote that not only would wifi be unavailable, my *mobile* would be out of signal range - an escape from modernity that i haven't even been able to achieve in as far flung places as turkey, egypt, or belize - and let me tell you, it was *wonderful.*


our drive in: 45 minutes of this... on a gravel road... a long long way off from the highway.





our little dock: the central hub of the water action.


my cousin taylor, trailing us on the jet ski, just before the storm hit and he had to traverse 10 foot waves high to get back to the shore!


my room's view. vista parfaite for writing - non?
and honestly, with the shade drawn, i haven't slept so well in.... ummm... have i *ever* slept so well??


just look at that - and imagine... completely out-of-your-hands nothing to do, but marvel at the very existence of such a scene.

i dare you to try it some time.