Coeur d'Alene, ID (August 3-9, 2008)

Well, I have successfully located my Lexar Jumpdrive, upon which I had been storing my photos from our trip to Coeur d'Alene. Considering the length of the drive, a ten hour ride in the Suburban, the boys did fairly well in transit. Sure, there was some crying here and there, but things quieted right down after we gave some snacks to Alisha (Krystal's 17 year-old sister)!



We drove straight up I-15 through Idaho until we met up with I-90 in "Hannah Montana" just before Butte. By the time we made it to Montana, the scenery was very pleasant to look at, and began to resemble the Pacific Northwest--a region of our country that is identified by its lovely terrain and left-wing freaks. Along the way, we drove through the one-and-only Kellogg, Idaho, home of Dave Smith's Dodge dealership (the one who advertises on Rush and claims that their prices are so good that it would be worth it to fly there from anywhere in the U.S. to buy your trucks). Although we didn't stop to do some car shopping, I must say that their dealership is about 75% of the town, visible from the interstate. So maybe it's true.



Once we arrived in town, we realized two things: 1) we would be in one of the most beautiful parts of God's creation for a week, and 2) there really weren't any skinheads like we had heard. Evidently, they were in the nearby town of Hayden, until their compound was shut down several years ago. So, two positives right off the bat!



Several of the things we did are as follows:



We kayaked

We flew in a sea plane (reminiscent of Indiana Jones in Raider of the Lost Ark)

We swam

We fished (with no success)

We watched our neighbors fish (with great success... they even caught two turtles)

We watched Alisha and Jeremy para sail

We went boating

We nearly turned the pontoon boat into a submarine (by combining a family gathering at the front of the boat, while Alisha killed the engine)

We hung out in the vicinity of John Elway's home, Tiger Woods' home and Oprah's condo (two pieces of evidence that further prove the absence of white supremacists!)

We kicked it on the beach

I found large amounts of gold in the lake, but left it in an old candy wrapper on the beach

Terry (my father-in-law) nearly blew up the grill at the house we stayed in, but lucky for us he knows a thing or two about explosives. Mine is an actual rocket scientist, unlike most people's fathers-in-law who merely act like they are!

Although we made it into Spokane Valley, we didn't actually find John Stockton's place of birth or his current residence

We did shopping

We did some sight seeing

We found a pimpin' toy store on Sherman Avenue that by itself would make a 10 hour drive to Coeur d'Alene worthwhile

We just hung out, and

We watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics--which we enjoyed, but found frightening, at points

There may be more, like:

• Seeing a rock that was the historic location of a treaty being signed between some guy and some Indian tribe


• Eating ice cream at Coldstone


• Celebrating Krystal's 24th birthday with breakfast done right and a high-stress shopping trip


• Seeing a kid dressed in tin foil outside a movie theater


• Realizing that certain beaches are "private" for a reason


• Finding a home that has a full 3-par hole in their backyard


• Witnessing the construction of a 20,000 square foot home, and


• Seeing firsthand that FedEx delivers to residential locations in the panhandle of Idaho by 11:00 AM on weekdays.
  

All in all it was a good trip--a good trip followed by a good weekend at Snowbird. Sadly, I was working for about 88% of the Snowbird trip (from the office, no less). But commuting down a cool canyon road, surrounded by solid granite rock, healthy foliage and waterfalls was considerably more relaxing than driving to the office from Syracuse.