weekend in Idaho

wow I haven't written since I got back from Florida.

check out the strangest palm tree Howie and I have ever seen, in the parking lot at the condo complex, the bark just didn't look real, it looks like concrete, but it's not, it's palm tree!

Jackie and I tag teamed as soon as I got back - we had one very busy day when we were both in Big Sky to try to squeeze in a few sentences and communicate and then she was off to Boston for a visit with her good college friends and Maria's birthday party.

on Friday, January 22nd, the house upstate closed, we still have a month to get our furniture and personal belongings out of there, it was sold to the DYI (Do It Yourself) Network. They are going to use it for their Blog Cabin Sweepstakes, maybe one of us can win it back. This is the house that was our retreat when we lived in NYC, Jackie and I used to go up there every weekend we could and it is also where we got married on that epic cold rainy day in August, only 1 mile from where the Woodstock concert took place...

So Jackie was gone for almost a week, not getting home after being delayed in Minneapolis an extra night until Monday, late afternoon, and then it was off to Hebrew School for me and the boys. It was somewhat of a busy weekend while she was gone, taking care of the boys, and the store, but did still get in a fun day of downhill skiing with Dan on Saturday while Andrew, Micah and Howie all skied with their friends and ski groups.

So Jackie got back and our lives are so busy, between the boys and the store and everything else. We did squeeze and epic meadow golf course skate ski, with the full moon rising in the east and the sun setting in the west, but it wasn't looking like we were going to make any kind of real getaway happen, but then we found this place on line called the Pines Lodge at Island Park, and they had some cabins and one was available at a decent price and we were able to find friends to farm off the kids to, Andrew stayed home and took care of the dogs, and Jackie and I were able to escape Big Sky on Saturday around noon until today, Monday, afternoon.

On Saturday we skated at Rendevous, in West Yellowstone, and just by chance it was free admission day. We skated skied for 3 hours, doing Rendevous, to Dead Dog to Deja Vu. It was beautiful and conditions were perfect, the trails very well groomed and fun. I was exhausted afterwards, that really good exhaustion from healthy physical exercise, but I was truly beat. We drove to Island Park, we checked into our log cabin, we had neighbors, but it was still off to itself, hidden in the pines. Lodgepole pines that from the hot tub almost looked like palm trees. The cabin was clean and comfortable, we found a good mellow rock music station, and settled into a quiet evening, just the 2 of us. Music, books, good food we brought from the store, wine, a movie, and most importantly each other.

In the morning we woke up to 4 inches of fresh snow, we had a slow morning, coffee, breakfast, reading books, making our lunch for later and then it was off to Harriman State Park, a great place for track skiing. It's an old railroad depot, with 2 large lakes, Gold and Silver Lakes, and flocks and flocks of Trumpeter Swans. It snowed on and off all day, it was a winter wonderland, and we skied and skied from 12:30 - 5 pm. It was awesome and I was exhausted once again. Keeping up with a Roberts isn't easy. At one point I caught up to Jackie and she was kneeling on her skis at the edge of the snow covered frozen expansive Silver Lake in silent prayer, praying to the tall cat tails swaying in the foreground.

On the way home we stopped at the gas station for some milk for coffee and a movie. We rented Paper Heart which turned out to be an awesome film about love, kind of a feaux documentary. It was another wonderful evening of mark and jackie reconnecting on yet another epic getaway, one long overdue, it had seemed like forever since we had spent any time together, alone, without interruption.

It was actually reminiscent of our times in upstate New York, when we used to just go and hang out in the country, taking long hikes, or walks, or actually cross country ski. The first time I ever skied, nordic or alpine, was when Jackie and I rented cross country track skis in upstate new york and went to this park and skied around this lake. I was so bad at it, but we had lots of fun...

And today we had yet another slow morning, took a quick hot tub, had breakfast, and checked out late at around 12:15, and headed home, this time taking a detour around Henry's Lake, stopping at the property at Hook and Horn, for a short track ski from the road to the river... and then back home by 3:30. I walked the dogs down to the bus stop, and met the kids, and then at 4:30 Jackie, Howie and Micah were off to Hebrew School. I went down to the store to do a little bit of work so I'm not too far behind tomorrow, and now I'm back home, writing and reading, and enjoying one more quiet night, until everyone gets home in another hour or so...