Building character.

There is that old trope out there about fathers making their kids do something right on the edge of horrible 'for their own good.' We often call these things 'character building experiences.' 

Well...today I decided the time had come for my daughters to build some character...so after a stretch of 4 days where the temperature hasn't broken 28 degrees, we loaded up the car and headed up to Palouse Falls.  Having been there in the summer, I was more than a little curious what it looked like after a deep chill.

The answer is, beautiful, if you were able to keep your eye balls from freezing shut. 

When we arrived there, it was about 16 degrees outside...and so after an hour and a half drive, we lasted about 10...maybe 15 minutes outside.  More than long enough to put a twinkle in everyone's eyes.

After that, we piled back into the car, and headed down the road into Dayton, for some lunch and antiquing.  I also had a cup of gourmet style European Drinking Chocolate(please, do NOT call it hot chocolate)...and it was flipping amazing.  Oh, the price made Starbucks look cheap...but...yum, yum, yum.

It was a pleasant day.  For a good part of the drive(a four hour loop), most of the Palouse was snow covered, which I agree with my wife on...if you are going to have cold, let it be pretty and white, too.  We saw a few coyotes, and a field or two with pheasant in them...and I think the kids built a lot of character.