SUMMER CALLS

When summer arrives every year I always feel the tug of the lake. I feel the need to go up to spend time at Priest but only am able to go there every few years.

My parents started going to Elkins Resort when I was just an infant. We spent a few weeks every summer and sometimes we spent the whole summer.

We would get up in the morning and head for the beach, spending the entire day, coming back to our cabin about 5pm. There was swimming, diving, walking and lots of frog and snake catching.

As I grew up, water skiing took up alot of time, thanks to the kindness of friends who had boats. Our Moms would plan trips to gather huckleberries with all the kids at the resort at the time. The Austins, Brooks, Barkers, Husoms, Gottschalks ,Woodfields and Richards were some of the families who spent the summers there for generations.

We still spend time huckleberry picking when we return to the lake. But today I am much more aware of what is also in the woods near the huckleberry bushes and am very careful to have a car nearby. Back in the '50s and '60's one of the fun nighttime activities was to drive to the dump and watch the bears.

Although I realize the new way for bears to live is better, I still miss being able to go see them every night. I was lucky to have a bear cub run into me on his fast trek down a hill about 20 years ago. This was on a trail in Elkins on the way to the "big rocks". I figured that his mom was nearby, hopefully, so I took off quickly to our cabin(cabin #2). I treasure that one time a bear ran into me. Besides the frogs, the snakes and the bears, the people from Priest Lake are very special to me and my memories of them, thank goodness, are crystal clear in my mind.

My sister and I were very lucky to meet Al and Sandy Elkins last summer and relive some of our old memories. It sounds like they, too, have an invisible something that tugs at them and brings them back to the lake. The lake will continue to cause me to return for as long as I am able. Maryanne