Coeur d/Alene to Sandpoint, ID

 

OK, seemed like it was going to be a pretty uneventful day, until somebody got bit by a wolf, that is. Let me start from the beginning. Arrived in Coeur d'Alene, ID last night -which would be a beautiful place to be - on a beautiful lake - if it wasn't pouring the entire time. This didn't leave me much to do today. Went to Kinko's where toupee man hogged the one working copy machine for over an hour. Then the post office and the bank blah blah blah. Oh, and you'll be happy to know I was smart enough to not stay at this place. I don't know...something about it....just didn't seem ...safe.
 

Finally, I decided to hit the road and head north through Sandpoint, ID. Along the way there was a place called "Wolf People." Well, that was definitely U-turn worthy. From the outside it looked like a wolf themed gift shop. I browsed around a bit and then the lady behind the counter noticed I was there - "Oh, we have wolves out back. We just took some folks out to see them." Well, this was very exciting because the day before I went to a wolf preservation in Winchester, ID. Paid $5 to stroll through some woods with the hopes of seeing a wolf or two. But no luck. They don't like to graze in the field when its raining. Hey,neither do I, but I made the effort. The preservation was very informative - explaining how wolves have been misunderstood, not as scary and evil as we have made them out to be pretty much driving them to near extinction. Mostly because of Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Pigs from what I could gather. (Another myth - wolves don't howl at the moon. They howl for all sorts of reason - they are just more active when the moon is full because of the extra light.) Anyway, I head out back behind the Wolf People Gift Shop and there behind a chain link fence are a couple of wolves. The gentleman in charge is also explaining how wolves are more affectionate than dogs to each other. There was an artic wolf and a timberline wolf. I took some photos and headed back into the shop since it still was pouring. Well, not 5 minutes later, the rest of the folks come hurrying back in with a child around 4 screaming. Apparently, the timberline wolf mistook his hand he decided to hang in the fence for a hotdog. He seemed like he was going to be ok - more freaked out than hurt - but made me think the 3 Pigs really did have something to worry about.