At the top of the 65-foot Codger Pole, Colfax, Washington

It’s legendary, this story is, and pretty remarkable to boot:  old guys playing a rematch just for the fun of it! And that’s why the Codger Pole in Colfax, Washington (between Pullman and Spokane on Hwy. 195) celebrates the idea that old rivalries don’t just die out.  They sometimes get relived, even after 50 years. At least that’s how the story goes.

Carved by Jonathan Labenne, the Codger Pole resides in Codger Park, Colfax, Washington

In 1938, Colfax High lost a football match-up with St. John with a score of 6 to 0.  But Colfax never forgot.  After 50 years, one Colfax player, John Crawford had the idea to suit ‘em up again and hit the gridiron.  And so they did. With fanfare accorded to war heroes and the like, Colfax held a parade honoring the now 70-year-old players and turned out en masse to cheer the old codgers on at the rematch.

One of the 51 players carved into the Codger Pole

Wearing their original colors (but not the original leather helmets), two aged but determined teams went head to head on a fall day in 1988.  With a surprise run by Colfax’s Babe Lyons, it was a win for the Colfax Bulldogs reversing the original 6 to 0 score in their favor as they defeated the St. John Eagles! Ah, sweet revenge!

In 1991, the remaining players dedicated a 65-foot red cedar pole by master carver Jonathan Labenne — grown-up likenesses of all 51 players sculpted into the five standing poles known today as the Codger Pole.  It’s said to be the largest chainsaw sculpture of human likenesses and the world’s largest football monument, but we like it for its Roadside America appeal and what it must have meant to the old codgers who took the field that day in 1988, playing the sport they loved.

In the park commemorating the event is the The Codger Pole Legend with this insight by John Crawford: The ghosts of our youth revealed glimpses of gridiron brilliance. Unfortunately brief and few but even so, that glorious afternoon of fun gave us guys a chance to fulfill that dream every seventy-year-old kid secretly hangs onto: playing one more game. And how many old rascals ever get to do that?

The real stars were those brave souls who went back out onto the field after fifty years — The Codgers!

Even if you can’t get to Washington to see the pole, you’ll love the YouTube video narrated by one of the players, Joe Henderson, chronicling the whole event.  (Click here.) The Codger Pole, 324 South Main Street, Colfax, WA For more information: “The Codger Pole.” Roadside America. Retrieved from http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2944 “Codger Pole.” Skeeterbuggins Productions on YouTube.  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNaS5mcdhiY To read more of our travels through the Inland Northwest, click on the page labeled Inland Northwest at the top of this blog.

View from Lake Coeur d’Alene Scenic Byway

A stop at an Idaho tourist information rest area near Post Falls, Idaho, changed the course of our day. We thought we’d go into Coeur d’Alene, walk around the lake, eat at the resort, and take in the beauty of this city of blue waters.  But the lady at the tourist information center brought out a map and showed us Idaho 97, a route called the Coeur d’Alene Scenic Byway. She promised it would not only take us south toward Moscow, our destination, but would afford us spectacular views. How right she was!

Located in Idaho’s panhandle, Lake Coeur d’Alene is a glacier-formed lake spanning 25 miles with 135 miles of shoreline. Clear waters, access to beaches, and wildlife such as bald eagles and birds of prey make it a destination for many.  The curvy drive begged us to slow down and enjoy the springtime scenery — wide expanses of water, stately homes with beckoning docks, tall evergreens, full-blooming lilacs on bushes reaching roofline heights, and an occasional store like Hutton’s General Store offering travelers and locals a good sandwich and bottle of pop. Photo ops presented themselves at every turn, so we’re sharing with you what we stopped for along the way.  It’s a drive to put on your must-see list!

For more information, go to Visit Idaho at http://www.visitidaho.org/attraction/lakes-rivers/lake-coeur-dalene/

The Palouse as seen from Steptoe Butte

Traveling from Moscow, Idaho, I drove west through Pullman and then headed north on Highway 195 to Rosalia, Washington, passing through an area of unparalleled scenery — undulating hills, painted barns, and amber fields of wheat and lentils and quinoa. It’s a peaceful place of a little more than 200 miles once traversed by wagon trains and railways years ago. The Palouse now boasts the greatest concentration of wheat in America and over 30% of the world’s lentils.

I fell in love with the quiet, the occasional glimpses of tractors at work, and the landscape of curved, contrasting patches of light brown and dark brown, with waving grains in some areas, stubble left by the harvest in others, and a full sky complemented by puffy clouds and the occasional spinning blades of a wind farm on the horizon. May you, too, enjoy the journey as I saw it that day in The Palouse!

For more on the Inland Northwest, click on the Page at the top of this post.

This post is #18 for National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) 2013.

We were fortunate to have chosen fall for our tour since the tall, dark evergreens were highlighted by the brilliant leaves of the hardwoods.  When we parked the car for short hikes, we were often rewarded with old growth forests in their natural state beckoning us to come in and enjoy the peace and quiet.

This scenic drive has to be one of the finest in America — unspoiled beauty and well-marked, well-maintained parks and outlook areas.  Definitely worth the drive!

If you choose to go:

Be sure you are prepared with plenty of fuel and food since retail establishments are few and far between .  We’ve read that the Lolo Pass Visitor Center is a great first stop; however, it was closed when we got there since our visit coincided with the government shutdown.

For more information: 

The Lewis and Clark Trail: http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/

The Lewis and Clark Trail from Missoula to Lewiston (Map included): http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/trailadventures/w200.htm

Facebook: LewisandClarkTrail.com: https://www.facebook.com/relivetheadventure

For more posts on the Inland Northwest, click on the Page at the top of this post.

This post is #11 for the National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) for 2013.

Now a National Historic Landmark and the only archaeologically verified Lewis and Clark campsite in the world, Travelers’ Rest was the camping area for the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805 and 1806. The Holt Visitor Center and Museum houses artifacts and room-like vignettes indicative of the time.

Volunteers offer information on many of the artifacts and point out notable details. But the Visitor Center can be explored on your own.  Major events are outlined from the time Lewis and Clark arrived in the Bitterroot Valley in September, 1805 (exhausted and hungry but spared from death by the hospitality and generosity of the Bitterroot Salish) all the way to the time of their departure along what is now known as Lolo Trail towards the Pacific Ocean. At the time of arrival, the party included Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, 26 army troops, Clark’s slave York, Interpreters Charbonneau and Sacajawea and their infant son Baptiste, and two fellow Shoshonis. They rested a day and a half at the small flat they called “Traveler’s Rest.”

Quotes from primary sources such as this one celebrating the kindness of strangers (the Salish) line the walls of the Visitor Center:

“they received us in a friendly manner.  they appeared glad to See us.  they Smoaked with us, then gave us a pleanty Such as they had to eat, which was only Servis berrys and cheeries pounded and dryed in Small cakes. Some roots of different kinds.”

Beautiful autumn view of the Loop Trail

Well-preserved artifacts housed in glass cases enable even the youngest visitors to get a feel for life in the early 1800s.

And room settings, like this one in a teepee and the one below that Bert is examining, show the living quarters and how various life functions such as cooking, metalwork, garment creation, etc., would have been conducted.

Outside, a half-mile Loop Trail marks notable finds.  (And for young visitors, a Trail Adventure brochure serves as a scavenger hunt marked with nine notable sites along the way.)

One area marks where researchers have discovered the remains of fire-cracked rock, charcoal, and lead indicating that there had been intense heat as a result of a hot-burning fire, evidence of a working encampment.

One of the greatest finds, however, was the evidence of a “trench-like disturbance in the soil”  indicating a sink or latrine, a find that helped to authenticate the spot as the Lewis and Clark encampment.

Even though there is a tipi set up on the Loop Trail, the Visitor Center brochure says that “it is unlikely that the Expedition had any tent material by the time they reached Travelers’ Rest, with Lewis and Clark sleeping in a tipi and the rest of the party sleeping in the open or under makeshift lean-to’s.” But we loved the setting anyway!

The expedition left Travelers’ Rest on September 11, 1805, following the land route toward the Pacific, but returned in 1806.  From June 30 to July 3, the group “rested” for the last time prior to leaving Travelers’ Rest on July 3, 1806.

Without the support of the local community, the exact location of Travelers’ Rest might not have been discovered.  But now, with the support of Montana State Parks and the Travelers’ Rest Preservation and Heritage Association, this well-preserved, beautiful site welcomes all of us to consider how early explorers paved the way for future settlements.

(And, I must admit, I’m so glad my husband wanted to stop here!!!)  Let the Sams’ exploration of the Lewis and Clark Trail begin!

Travelers’ Rest State Park

6717 Highway 12 West

Lolo, MT 59847

info@travelersrest.org

www.travelersrest.org

Lolo Creek Steak House

Lolo, MT

www.lolocreeksteakhouse.com

For more posts on the Inland Northwest, click on the Page at the top of this post.

This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge offers us a reason to share photos from our recent trip along the Lewis and Clark Trail, one of the most scenic drives in America.  (Well, we think so, at least.)

Placid waters, fall colors along the Lewis & Clark Trail

Fall scenery along the horizon of the Lewis & Clark Trail

View from Lewiston Hill in Lewiston ID.

For more great horizon pictures, go to Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon.

For more posts on the Inland Northwest, go to the Page at the top of this blog.  Thanks!