Idaho: Coeur d’Alene

 Days 54, 55, 56: July 16, 17, 18, 2021

We travel to and play in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

One of the perks of getting older is connecting with people from the past. (Not everyone gets this lucky!) After an adventure of wrong numbers and Google searches, we connect with Jean’s college buddy, Ben Babcock. Ben and Jean backpacked to the summit of Mount San Jacinto in Southern California back in the early ‘80s but have not been in touch in WELL over 30 years. Given that, Ben spent a lot of time chauffeuring and playing tour guide. He was willing to do whatever we wanted to be able to show us his city. (His post-retirement job could easily be with the Chamber of Commerce!)

The Drive east out of the Columbia River Gorge

What a spectacular place to explore. Leaving it after only two nights there, I wish we had more time to see more. But what an interesting and beautiful drive out of the gorge. The scenery kept changing slightly. Locks and dams came into view and faded in the rear view mirror. Before we knew it, we were in the “desert” of Washington State and the greens and blues of the trees and water had been traded for the golden dry landscape.

Volcanic rock patterns on the wall at the eastern end of the Gorge

Dry landscape of Eastern Washington

The wind whipped over the ridges—and the wind blades took advantage of that

We ride our bikes and explore

We got in a 12 mile ride on Saturday morning. Lots of people out and about enjoying the warm and sunny weekend. With forest fires east and south of us, as well as in Washington State, the air was hazy all weekend, even though we couldn’t smell the smoke. We were in an EXTREME FIRE DANGER area.

My Red Rider bike takes a break by the prettiest underpass I’ve ever seen.

I loved that even though Ben told us about this trail, he was unaware of this painting . There were huge trout on both sides of the underpass.

#welikeitbig A big die. And a big guy.

A funky and wonderful place for dinner. Thank you, Ben! I ordered a plate of poutine for an appetizer. I will try anything once and have heard about this (I think of it as Canadian) delicacy, but had never had it. Our server said it was “really good”. It WAS! Basically French fries with brown gravy (salty) over the fries and cheese curds. I would have it again. As long as I’d had plenty of daily cardio exercise for the month prior and the month subsequent to having it!

Sunday in the Park with Ben

We began the day with a hike around Tubb’s Hill, right in downtown Coeur d’Alene, with Lake Coeur d’Alene following us most of the way around the little hill. Ben said he has never seen this area this dry.

Looking out toward Lake Coeur d’Alene from the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

A window view with angles and shadows from the Coeur d’Alene Resort. No, we didn’t stay there;
we have our own Idaho vacation home!

We did a boat tour of Lake Coeur d’Alene. This is the floating putting green from the fancy golf course behind it. Sometimes that hole is pulled farther out on the lake, making it longer or shorter! You have to be ferried to the green by boat to make your putt!

A view of part of the Tubb’s Hill trail we hiked in the morning.

Teens jumping off the rocks into Lake CDA

Pretty CDA fountain

Public Sculpture in Downtown CDA

Millie the Mouse on Mudgie the Moose’s nose. There are six of these sculptures, based on a local author’s popular children’s book, around town. We saw 4 of them.

Ben loves Mudgie and Millie.

NOW I get the bookstore name….

From the “People who built Couer d’Alene” series: the Lumberjack

Women suffragettes

The Miners

The Farmers

Ben and Dan pose with “Allium Spring Chorus”; of course, this was to have been one of our #welikeitbig photos, but someone TOTALLY CUT OFF THE TOPS OF THE FLOWERS!! ACK!!

The CDA Sundial was pretty accurate—for DST!

A man on a plinth, extending a helping hand in end times. That’s my interpretation. 
“The Climb” can be yours for $16.5K.

“The Plunge”. I kind of liked this one, but didn’t “get” the title until I was editing the photos from today. Now I think it’s very cool.

Ben in his environment

Dr Babcock indulged my request to see his office. It’s beautiful, with artwork that represents the outdoors and animals of the surrounding area. 

I loved the saturated colors of this stained glass piece in Dr. Babcock’s office—and yet another moose!

We ended our visit with dinner on the deck overlooking “Ben’s Deer Park”. All the local deer congregate here and are pretty used to people around them. These fawns were adorable and played with each other. That may be someone’s mom in the pasture behind these three. A great way to conclude a very fun and full day! (What a wonderful place to live: that mountain is framed by Ben’s windows in his living room. Like living in a National Park Lodge!)

Tomorrow we head out to Helena, MT. Stay tuned!