In Tough Times, the Right Choice

Story and Photos by Alyssa Charpentier

A flash of frothing blue beamed on the rugged canyon walls—and my intrepid mini-drone surged straight for it. I urged it on, faster and faster as my remote controller displayed the increasing flight speed. Then I noticed a rock ledge beside the waterfall directly in my drone’s path and jerked back on the controller’s joystick. But my sky camera didn’t slow in its hurdle toward glory and certain death.

It connected lens-first with the ledge, never knowing it had flown too close to the proverbial sun, which in this case was wet and blue. The drone toppled onto its side and left me wondering how I would ever get it back.

Welcome, I told myself, to the solo portion of your Idaho vacation.

In early September, flu season, a fever had gripped my mind. It gathered heat and intensity as I pondered the year’s approaching end and asked myself, Should I go now? Venture to Idaho before snow’s first fall?

I’m a Lewiston-Clarkston Valley native based now in Southern California and several years removed from the touch of a snowflake. I’m also a fairly new driver untested on black ice’s treacherous edges. I’d have to rent a car for this vacation and I’d have to make the trip alone but I told myself it was time.

My thoughts cartwheeled through potential cities, landmarks, and itineraries as the beautiful infection of ideas took hold. I must satisfy my hankering to return to my starchy roots, to vacation in the land where spuds are your buds. I must escape the humdrum of a life turned stale and sour and make a solo trip to the Gem State.