At the lake

Growing up, there were two primary water activities in my summer world: swimming in the pool and jumping on a trampoline with a sprinkler under it. Mine was a charmed childhood.

Having lived in Spokane without a pool or a trampoline for the last 12 years, I've joined the thousands of residents who go to the lake.

Priest Lake, Idaho

There are many to choose from within a 100-mile radius of Spokane. A few are spectacular, and a few are less glamorous but still do the trick. We were just talking about how sometimes these lake getaways make us feel like babies. We're unaware of time or day; we eat when we're hungry, sleep when we're tired, and let ourselves be lulled by rocking waves. Where our feelings of infancy end, I guess, is knowing just how lucky we are to be where we are, and how crucial it is to put on sunscreen.

Lake Pend Oreille

Lake Pend Oreille is a favorite. We rode around the lake one evening a couple weeks ago and saw many million-dollar homes with bo-billion-dollar views. But I felt that I had the best view of all: one of the prettiest, pinkest sunsets of my life, likely made possible (and bittersweet) by distant forest fires.

Lake Pend Oreille

This past weekend marked my 5th annual trip to Priest Lake. We stay with friends at their family cabin each year, where the dock chairs are plentiful, the booze cruise departs each evening around sunset, and mealtimes are masterpieces.

The Priest trip is always bittersweet for me. It marks the beginning of the end, when the days will become even shorter, and go by faster, all while offering the very best weather of the year. We all know how this goes. I curse the back-to-school commercials and plug my nose as soon as I detect the first cool whiff of fall.