Mudslides and peach cobbler

On Friday morning Mark and I drove up north to go hiking around Blue Lake and have lunch in McCall, Idaho.  He didn't have class or work, and the weather was perfect; I was looking forward to a fun day in Nature with my brother. 

Only we didn't get there.  Roughly half-way between Boise and McCall, we encountered an unfortunate "road closed" sign.
 

The reason?  Mud.  EVERYWHERE.  Apparently the torrential rains that had so persecuted me on my ride up the mountain the day before had triggered a mudslide a few miles up the canyon, shutting down both lanes of traffic.



Not much you can do against a mudslide.  The only alternate route to McCall would have been to backtrack to Boise and then swing out, far to the west (practically to Oregon) and then drop down into McCall from the north.  It would have turned a half-day excursion into a full-day adventure.  We had plans with the others later in the day, though, so we turned around and headed home. 

As a consolation prize, though, we stopped along the river and took a few pictures.  Mark assured me that this part of the canyon wasn't as spectacular as what we would have seen farther up, but I guess some nature is better than nothing!

 

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful.  We ran some errands and basically just hung out at the house.  I was tired and took a nap.  Then got on a conference call for work.

 

But in the evening things got fun again.  Heather and Jordan called a babysitter to watch their kids; Mark and Erin came by.  We all headed out for a "grown-ups only" dinner at The Stuffed Olive, a local favorite.  The food was hearty and delicious, and our waitress was cool.  It was a great time with the siblings and in-laws!

 

Chicken parmigiana with penne and marinara sauce

Fresh peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream

 

Our waitress got a little creative with the photo process...
(it was hilarous)