McCall, Idaho…And A Priceless Visit With Cousins

It’s not easy to get to McCall, Idaho unless you’re a bird. Or you own a plane. That winding, narrow mountain road from Boise to McCall can be a white knuckle trip along the beautiful whitewater rapids of the Payette River. But let me assure you, that trip to McCall was worth the effort for me because I have cousins who live there. Cousins I adore. Cousins I’d only seen once in the past twenty or thirty years!

Even though I was counting the minutes until I could hug those dear people, we took time to check into our hotel where we would be spending the next two nights.

The Brundage Inn is a landmark in McCall.

We stayed there two years ago on our only other visit to the town, so it felt like “home” when we arrived.

It’s a rustic retreat and there aren’t many fancy amenities, but the linens are clean and you feel like you’re really in a wilderness mountain camp…which, come to think of it, you really are!

The bedrooms have a Western theme, and the double bed is a throwback to the 1950’s. There is no air conditioning, and I’m guessing it’s not needed for about 350 days per year. (There was a fan in the room, if needed.)

After checking in and unloading our luggage, we headed into town for a quick dinner before my long-awaited reunion with my cousins. We wanted to eat at a place with a view of beautiful Lake Payette, so we chose the Anchor Restaurant.

The view was amazing, and the food was OK. But our server that night was much more interested in visiting with her friends than taking care of her customers. We literally had to wave to get her attention several times…so I won’t bother to show you the burger Peepaw ordered, or the fish and chips I chose. Sometimes the service (or lack thereof) is what you remember most about dining out.

But this view was really why we chose the Anchor Restaurant in the first place, after all…

After our less than perfect dinner, we headed across town. And as soon as we pulled into the driveway…there they were!

Barbara and “Strick” were waiting there…standing in front of their 400 year old pine tree! And when I tell you these dear people are both pushing 90 I’m guessing you might be as shocked as I still am. In fact, Barbara still works four hours per day in a beautiful garden nearby. (Take a tour of the garden from our visit two years ago.)

I can barely keep up with Barbara as she flits around…and I can only hope to be half as agile and active as she is if I’m lucky enough to live so long.

THIS is how I remember those two…and their wonderful kids. My cousins. The ones my brother and I adored.

Back in the 1950’s that family would pile into their station wagon in Arizona and make the trip to visit us on our farm in Iowa. (Can you imagine a car trip with that many kids? And no air conditioning?) Those times spent on our farm with our cousins are still some of my most vivid childhood memories…but I’ll save those stories for another time. And believe me…I’ve got some stories to share! (When you were a kid did you ever play “Matador/Bull Fight” with a REAL BULL? I wouldn’t recommend it.)

This trip to McCall was all about FAMILY, and we wasted no time in beginning our visit. The feeling of welcome was almost palpable as we stepped inside their beautiful cottage tucked among those towering pine trees. And the antiques and family photos scattered throughout the cozy home lend a sense of joy and of lives well-lived. It was the perfect setting to sit down and look through “Strick’s” carefully arranged photo albums. (I wasn’t surprised by his meticulous photo albums since he was a professional photographer and videographer in his younger days.).

And Annie, their adorable “weiner dog” was not about to be left out of our photo sharing!

I was happy to share some of my photos with them…but mine were on my laptop. And even though these relatives are in their 80’s they even have WiFi in their home! 

Our one full day spent together was one I will always treasure, and I asked if I could cook dinner for them. And as many of you know there is no place I would rather be than in someone’s kitchen…especially in a kitchen as cheerful as the one in this adorable mountain retreat. And especially surrounded by these people I love so much…

 

My dear cousin Kevin showed up to help, and we shared many laughs and stories about our escapades on our Iowa farm.

I also loved hearing his stories about the months he spent in total isolation on “fire watch” perched high up in a lookout tower deep in the forest…miles from any form of civilization. And he shared tales from his “hang-ten surfer dude” days spent on isolated beaches in Mexico. Beaches SO isolated the locals had never seen the tin foil Kevin was using to cook his dinner on the beach!

Kevin has some serious knife skills when it comes to dicing onions and veggies, and he gave me his recipe for the Cowboy Biscuits and Gravy he’s famous for…and I’ll share that another time.

Yes…that afternoon was one I will treasure, and I wasn’t surprised when “Strick” pulled out a camera to document our visit.

And I wasn’t surprised to see him snap a photo of his favorite “pin up” girl…his wife of almost seventy years…

That scene warmed my heart, because I remembered a photo he had proudly shown me earlier that morning. A photo he took of that same beautiful woman…many, many years ago.

My life has been filled with special moments like that afternoon in McCall…

And what about that special dinner I promised to cook? 

I made two roasted chickens, herb roasted potatoes, garlic cheese bread and a cucumber and tomato salad. And let me say that dinner was NOT my best effort. Not at all. (In fact, I would call it AWFUL!)

I have successfully made that meal more times than I can count. But THIS time I forgot to account for the nearly MILE HIGH ALTITUDE of McCall to adjust the cooking times!  

Meemaw’s Cooking Tip: It takes FOREVER to cook chicken at high altitude!!!

When it was time to eat, the chicken looked beautiful when I pulled it out of the oven…

But it was still almost RAW! And the potatoes were as hard as bullets! UGH! I hacked some of that chicken into pieces and shoved it in the microwave for TWELVE MINUTES ON HIGH…and I STILL wasn’t sure we should eat it since I didn’t have a meat thermometer to check the internal temp.

My dear cousin Heather had arrived right on time for dinner…but that dinner was definitely NOT on time!

The LAST thing I wanted to do was to kill everyone gathered around that beautiful table!

I guess my cooking disaster is just another chapter in the long list of adventures I’ve shared with these “kids” and our siblings…my childhood compadres at the bull fights and horseback rides and the farmhouse sleepovers we all loved so much.

But after what seemed to me to be my complete kitchen failure, our dinner was saved by Barbara’s gorgeous German Chocolate cake she had whipped up earlier that morning. It was absolutely delicious! (And don’t ask me how she bakes cakes at that altitude! That’s another mystery to me!)

And as the sun began to set, it was time to leave that cozy mountain home and to say good-bye again to those people I love so much.

It was very hard to drive away since I don’t know if our paths will ever cross again in this lifetime. But I’ll never forget spending that special day with all of them…More precious family memories made in that cozy cottage by the lake.