Hill's Resort 2008

The cheers and jeers continued as the players performed animated pantomimes challenging their team mates for answers just beyond their imaginations. Rob glares intensely at me and I shout “You don’t want to know the truth!” a feeble attempt at the line by Jack Nickelson in a Few Good Men. The group erupts in laugher and the boys lose again. That was 1998 at Western Pleasures; last night was a bit different. As the snow quietly fell outside, the six of us crowded around the Sequence board in warm silent concentration. Every few minutes one of us would place a card on the table and then a chip on the game board. More silence follows with a few nods of pensive recognition.

For the past thirteen years our little group of teachers and spouses has met on the Presidents Day weekend to get away and relax. We started in the cabins at Western Pleasures Guest Ranch where we cross country skied, road bikes, chased goats, and got to know Amos and Andy and the ranch owners Janet and Rolly. That chapter of our get-togethers lasted six years and involved many characters. Our guest list started with Raina and Terry Bohanek, Julia and Rob Caldwell, Rick and Terry Wright and the Bennett’s.

The seventh year we changed it up and traveled up to Schweitzer Ski Resort. By this time we had subtracted the Wrights and added Bridget and Mike Bundy. Our visit to the luxury of the highbrow ski resort was short lived and the next year we migrated north to Priest Lake and our final destination at Hills Resort. Four cabins and seven years later the core of our group still meets. The faces have changed slightly but the nucleus is definitely intact.

Arriving on Friday, Linda and Raina made the cabin ready for the weekend. Friday was a day off for Linda and Raina was free to leave early due to her state of unemployment. Raina is retired now, it’s her first year of freedom and she is enjoying every minute. After arriving at the cabin they built the fire and settled in for the two day get-together.

I left work a noon and drove directly north via I-95. I stopped twice on my journey but both were very brief. My first stop was at he RV shop just south of Sandpoint where I looked at their meager RV supplies, avoiding all the racks and racks of snowmobile accessories. After about five minutes I was on the road again stopping only at Starbucks in Sandpoint to get a cup of coffee and a glass of water. I arrived at the cabin, maneuvered the truck around and parked next to Raina’s truck, leaving room to load and unload all our gear. The two ladies were settled in and already laughing when I entered our cabin.

Bridget arrived next and not to long after that we had dinner on and were poised to eat. Dale and Judy found the place and joined us, immediately sitting down to a dinner of chicken fajitas with all the fixings.

Immediately after dinner we cleared the table and gathered to learn a new game Bridget had brought with her. Sequence is a team game where you place chips on a board covering the image of a card that corresponds to a card you have in your hand. The object is to connect five chips in a row of your teams color. On the big list of world’s loudest and exciting games, Sequence would be last. It is a fun game mind you, but to win the game you have to concentrate and out chip the opposing teams. Concentration and strategy plays in to the gamesmanship way above excitement and cheering. In fact we found out that there are penalties in the rules for talking. So our games went on in hushed deliberation.

When the games were finished we all go ready to go to bed. I had to venture out and get something out of the truck. I arrived at the drivers side to find that there was no room to get into the truck. In fact my truck had slid down hill and our mirror was resting against the window of Raina’s truck. It was tight enough that when I got into our truck from the passengers side and folded my mirror in, I could see the window on Rania’s rig flex back into it proper alignment. I quickly went into the cabin and got Bridget and Raina to come out and move their vehicles. Bridget moved her SUV so that Raina could pull down and away from my truck avoiding any contact and possible damage. It all worked out, but we were lucky. I spread sand around the wheels of each rig once we got them parked hoping to avoid a possible repeat of this event.

Shortly after that excitement we put the cabin to bed and headed into our rooms for a cozy nights sleep.

Saturday was spent relaxing and snowshoeing. Our snowshoeing adventure took us along the lake and up onto a lake side road. I made a bit of video while I went. That was kind of fun. On the return trip I went down a steep snow bank and took shots of the lake. As I returned I came across a deer trail and followed it. After about ten minutes I jumped five deer. I spent some time trying to get a good picture of the deer. It was quite the workout for me and I was just an annoyance to the deer. They would scoot around me as I drew near I tugged in circles and then gave up. Back at the cabin I cleaned up and we got ready for the evening.

We had a wonderful dinner followed by a rousing, yet quiet, round of Sequence. The events of the day had tired us out and we were all in bed by 10:00 PM.

Morning brought a group breakfast and the ladies went for a walk. After that we all had to pack up and head back to Coeur d’Alene. Every year we look forward to this weekend together, it’s sad to have it end. We always enjoy catching up with our friends. Reservations have been made for the same weekend next year. It will be fourteen years in 2009; I’m already looking forward to learning a new game. Hope it is louder then Sequence.