Where’s Nico?

So this week’s title comes not from the Muppets, but from the Talking Heads’ debut album, “Talking Heads: 77”, which not surprisingly came out in 1977. In general, I think it’s a bad idea to put the year into the title or lyrics – it makes it feel dated. “Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1999” sounds more like we’ll dress up for a Spice Girls concert these days, where it was supposed to sound like some future cool end-of-the-world thing when Prince released the song.

(I realize some of you may have thought the Spice Girls were the end of the world at the time, but clearly we lasted at least a couple decades longer.)

When Asia released their first hit “Heat of the Moment” back in 1982, they felt the need to include the lyrics “And now you find yourself in 82/The disco hotspots hold no charms for you”.

I feel like a good 30% of the times that I’m in a grocery store at this point, they play that song on the speakers (right between “We Got the Beat” and “Jessie’s Girl”, it seems). At this point, every time I hear that line, I start doing the math. “Wow, 2024 minus 1982… that song is 42 years old! It’s two thirds the way to social security!” At that point, you’re totally not listening to whatever point a band is trying to make – you’re just feeling old.

Anyway, you’re not here to listen to me gripe about being old… the real question is, where’s Nico? This week’s answer is:

Willamette National Forest!

Last time you and I chatted, Kristen, Nico and I were in Salmon-Challis National Forest, which was beautiful. From there, we did something kinda special… we decided to treat ourselves. We were near the midpoint of this trip, and Kristen and I both have birthdays coming up next month, so we decided as a birthday gift to each other that we’d get ourselves an AirBnB to crash at after spending three months sleeping in the close quarters of a 26 foot Flagstaff trailer.

So we ended up spending three days at a cute cottage near Parma, Idaho, about 45 minutes north of Boise. Before I talk about the stay, I want to mention the drive from Cottonwood Campground in Salmon-Challis to Parma, because it was just gorgeous. We took State Highway 75 from Salmon to Stanley, and then State Highway 27 to Banks – one of the prettiest stretches I’ve driven. We saw a bunch of spots along the way that we want to explore more in a future trip.

Anyway, back to our AirBnB. The place wasn’t big, but it had a nice big tub that Kristen, Nico and I could all soak in together, and a decent kitchen, which we put to big time use. Kristen and I really enjoy cooking, and while we were there, we made up a bunch of fried chicken (one of my favorite things that Kristen makes), some delicious gruyere biscuits, peach hand pies, and some sauces to use in lasagnas. The owners also had a Masterbuilt smoker in the yard, so we smoked up a turkey breast and a pork shoulder too. We ate some of that while we were at the AirBnB, but most of the cooking is now stored in our freezer to enjoy in the weeks ahead.

I didn’t take many food porn pics, but I had to get a picture of Kristen’s amazing fried chicken:

Also, here’s a few pics of the joint:

The cooking and some errands (and lots of laundry) kept us busy while we were at the cottage, but we also got a chance to sleep in a normal bedroom for a few days and took advantage of soaks in the tub every afternoon. It was a nice little stop!

After the time at the cottage, we headed over to Willamette National Forest. The drive was fine, but paled in comparison to the drive we had a chance to do a few days earlier. But as you approach Willamette, the landscape changes dramatically, and you find yourself amongst a bunch of tall beautiful trees. We initially planned to camp in Paradise Campground, but c’mon – if you call some place “Paradise”, kiss it goodbye!

Actually, Paradise Campground looked lovely, but the spots were pretty tight for our rig. But we ended up finding this fantastic boondock near the Limberlost Campground.

We’ve done several trails so far at Willamette, and they’ve been really stunning. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the hike along the Mackenzie River to Tamolich Blue Pool. It was very much like walking through an enchanted forest from a movie, leading up to a pool that is a surreal shade of blue.

The second trail that really grabbed me was Proxy Falls Loop. That trail is a bit more off the beaten path here at Willamette than the others, and you get some spectacular views of both the Lower and Upper Proxy Falls. The Upper Proxy Falls viewpoint is right from the bottom of the falls and it’s really great.

We also did hikes around Clear Lake and by the Koosah and Sahalie Falls, which were also very nice.

Finally, we also found our new favorite happy hour spot – it’s a little private getaway on the Mackenzie River at the Olallie Day Use Area in Willamette:

Anyway, as far as the title of this blog post… while they weren’t full weeks, I went with “First week/last week… Carefree” because both the cottage stay and Willamette have been just tremendous fun. I have a feeling we’ll be hanging out in Willamette for a while still, because it’s really lovely, there are great hikes, and the temps are perfect for Nico. But you never know…. maybe we’ll throw a curve at you, so check out wheresnico.com again in a week or so and find out!

– Ken, 6/14/2024