The Night Lights Sky Lantern Festival in Post Falls, Idaho
Post Falls, ID
The Night Lights Sky Lantern Festival in Post Falls, Idaho
May 11-May 12, 2019
You can also find the Vlog on YouTube (see below!).
To hear about a weekend consisting of: Mother’s Day, my cat’s first road trip, quality time with family, a rest stop birthday party, camping chairs, food trucks, and thousands of floating lanterns - keep on reading!
In May 2018, my brother, Joe went to the Night Lights floating lantern event in Post Falls, Idaho with his girlfriend, Stacy. He had a feeling that the rest of my family (my mom, dad, and myself) would enjoy it as well, so this year we made the 5-hour trek to see it for ourselves! Because the event happened to land on Mother’s Day weekend – we decided that at the event we would celebrate my mom! Additionally, it was also my dad’s birthday on May 7th, so we also celebrated my dad that weekend too. We had a lot to celebrate!
Day 1:
Post Falls, ID
After seeing the pictures and videos Joe showed me last year, I found myself getting excited to experience the event first-hand. Night Lights took place at Stateline Speedway Stadium in Post Falls, ID. The name can help you assume that the venue was barely outside of Washington - right on the state line between WA and ID.
Initially, I thought it was going to be my parents, Lucas, Joe, Stacy, and Stacy’s family attending together. And then I later discovered that my aunt, uncle, two cousins, as well as a bunch of Joe’s and Stacy’s family and friends decided to attend too! It was a weekend filled with many family and friends all caravanning to Idaho and staying at the same hotel haha!
Because everyone was going, that left no one to take care of Sherbert (my cat, but aka my child). All his cat sitters were going to be there! So my dad and I decided, “Why not take him with us?” and made jokes about how it was my first Mother’s Day anyways ;). With a dad savvy at finding the best deals online, he found a TSA-approved and well-reviewed cat carrier for the trip. It even had expandable sides and a zipper at the top so he can peak his head out. Talk about cat-moming SO hard. It’s okay, I accept it.
With Sherbert safely secured in his carrier in the backseat with me, my parents, Joe, Lucas and I led the way to Post Falls with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins following in another car behind us. Believe it or not, Sherbert was only fussy for the first 30 minutes or so of the drive. It probably helped that we brought treats for when he behaved and that he was pretty used to riding in a car after going to and from Seattle a few times. He wanted to peak his head out the top of the carrier for some of the trip, but spent most of it napping. Our road trip songs consisted of Disney, country, and some 2000s Hip Hop and R&B, as Joe and Lucas took turns driving and I, of course, was the DJ.
About a little over an hour away from Post Falls, we decided to stop at a rest stop for lunch. Although comical, this next part will give you an accurate description of my mom’s personality… lol! She wanted to celebrate my dad’s birthday that day since we were all together and his birthday was a few days ago, so she bought a HUGE chocolate cake. My family happily had our lunch on one of the picnic tables at the rest stop. Spaghetti, lumpia, and chocolate cake was on the menu that afternoon. Sherbert wasn’t excluded either. We brought his carrier out to the picnic table, and he munched on his lunch in the shade.
After lunch, we were back on the road again. Lucas drove this time to give Joe a break, and we made our way through Spokane, WA to Post Falls, ID. We dropped off our things, as well as Sherbert, at the hotel, and then we left for the Night Lights event to get a good spot. We met up with the whole group – and trust me, there was a ton of us – and laid out our picnic blankets and camping chairs. Once settled, we made our way to the food trucks to grab some dinner. There was a taco truck, a shave ice truck, a turkey leg stand, an ice cream truck, and a bbq stand! We chose some tater tot/nachos, some turkey legs, and a few beers.
While we were waiting for the sun to go down, we decorated our lanterns and Joe bought us all an instant campfire to share. It was a lot of fun to roast marshmallows over some wholesome conversations.
At around 9pm, we were instructed to “fluff” our paper lanterns to get them ready for take-off. Lucas was helping everyone light their lanterns and it was so exciting to see the early lanterns trickle into the sky. Once the lanterns’ fires were burning enough, we were all instructed to start letting them go at the same time. Words CANNOT express how incredible it was to see the paper lanterns float into the night sky altogether!
Not only was it a beautiful moment, but it was also meaningful. It was amazing that my entire family and extended family got to experience this moment together – a lot of us had dedicated our paper lanterns in the loving memory of my grandmother who passed away 3 years ago. We wanted to wish her a very Happy Mother’s Day in heaven! Rest in Peace, Nanay.
Day 2:
Post Falls, ID
The Night Lights Sky Lantern Festival ended up exceeding my expectations. As much as I was able to record videos and take pictures – it was truly a moment that one needs to experience first-hand. I highly recommend this event to those in the nearby area.
Day 2 consisted of iced caramel macchiatos for the drive back home. We wished my mom a very happy mother’s day, and Sherbert did so great on the car ride home – he slept the whole way! I wonder what road trip he’ll be tagging along on next! ;)
Annnd that's a wrap!
I feel extremely blessed to be able to experience this event with my family and friends.
Cheers to creating new family traditions!
Gen
