Day 6: Rest Day
Welcome
Yesterday we had a day off in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Robert drove us through the night. We left Seattle around 3am and I guess he must have driven through the street party to get to the highway. Our 2,665km journey to Minneapolis began as we boarded Interstate 90 and headed east towards the Cascades. The forecast was snow, and we were all very glad to have an experienced pair of hands behind the wheel as we traversed this great mountain range. From there we descended into the Kittias Valley and crossed the Columbia River before climbing up to the Columbia Plateau, a vast geographic region that lies across parts of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington states. Finally we crossed the Spokane Valley and the Idaho border which brought us to Coeur d’Alene, our resting place for the day.
This town is famous for its floating green at the Coeur d’Alene Resort golf course, which Golf Digest once called “America’s most beautiful resort golf course”. It is currently ranked 62 on the national resort course rankings but it has made it up to 7th place in the Idaho Top 100 Golf Courses list.
Sadly we weren’t staying at the Coeur d’Alene Resort, but happily we were staying aboard our golden beauty which was sitting outside a very fine Holiday Inn Express.
After taking a few minutes to get to know the Holiday Inn Express carpark and lobby I returned to the bus and put together a breakfast of granola, milk, banana, mandarin, raspberries, pineapple, and deluxe mixed nuts.
There weren’t a lot of things to do within walking range and it was pretty cold outside but we tried to make the most of our day. Liz and Jon visited the 4.8 star-rated Riverstone Park which features some great rock art, as well as animal sculptures – all viewable as you walk the loop trail around a frozen pond.
I went for a jog along the North Idaho Centennial Trail which took me along the Spokane River and eventually to Lake Coeur D’Alene. This lake is the second largest in Idaho and during the summer months would be filled with water-sporters and other recreational water users. According to Tri-State Outfitters ‘the pristine serenity of the lake has earned it the reputation as one of the world’s most beautiful’. And it was serene indeed, the only water user I could see was an osprey riding the air currents and patiently waiting for a meal to swim close enough to the surface.
Empty berths on the Spokane River.
The view from Yap-Keehn-Um Beach, looking out across Lake Coeur d’Alene
While the rest of us were out Tristan hit the hotel gym but unfortunately failed to provide any photographic evidence.
If you wanted to experience culture around our location the best thing was the Cracker Barrel, located just on the other side of the freeway. This is a chain restaurant which has a very lavishly stocked ‘general store’. If you needed kitchen items, they had it. If you needed clothes, they had it. If you needed stationary, they had it. If you needed art, they had lots of it. While you wait for a table you are trapped inside the store and it has a real purgatory feel to it once you’ve walked around the whole thing a few times. The restaurant itself has the walls thoroughly decorated with a variety of old farm tools, musical instruments, and the odd weapon.
Sidney Gish, the wonderful musician playing support for us on this tour, came back with a brand-new hat, a tea towel, and a beautiful fridge magnet.
We all enjoyed a pleasant evening together in the front bus lounge where we screened two excellent films. The first was an Australian classic, The Castle, from 1997. The second was the 1993 military thriller Sniper.
I hope this doesn’t get taken down for copyright infringement!