Sunday, August 19, 2012

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

P1040435
We spent two days touring the beautiful city if Coeur d”Alene, Idaho.  The last time I visited Coeur d”Alene was back in 1980 when I was a working stiff. I said then that it was the most beautiful town I had ever seen. That is every bit as true now as it was then! I remember saying to myself back then, that I had to come back. Well, I made it.

Many years ago when Ms. Pat and I began traveling I told her that one place I had to take her was Coeur d”Alene.  We have tried to make plans to come here for over 10 years and something always came up that kept us from making the trip. I began to think I may never make it and maybe it wasn’t supposed to be. But this year we made the plans to come up here and “finally”,it really happened.

P1040462
The gardens and flowers in the area are outstanding…..
P1040464
The streets are all lined with flower arrangements hanging from the street lights…

P1040458
Ms. Pat and I renewed our vows on a point with the beautiful Coeur d’Alene Lake in the background..

P1040460
Our good friends Larry and Geri renewed their vows at this beautiful spot with us.. They were the owners and originators of the Broken Arrow Campground just 3 miles from us back home in Custer. They sold the Campground and just happened to be vacationing near Sandpoint, ID and came to tour the area with us..
P1040465
We camped together at the Elks Club in Coeur d’Alene. It is a beautiful campground with 33 grass sites with water and 50amp electricity hookups. It was so good to have them there with us to see all the sites…

P1040453
One of the things that always amazed me was this beautiful golf course right near downtown Coeur d’Alene……on the waters edge.

P1040450
There are many beautiful golf courses in this country, but not many that have the 19th hole out in the lake…  They hit from the T-box on shore and then take a little boat out to this green and do their putting. This is what stuck in my mind as one of the great attractions of this course and I was glad to see it was still here!

I will do my best to put a slideshow here if you wish to see more pictures of the area….. 
Coeur d'Alene _ Aug 2012

Saturday morning early we headed back East towards home. We had one more stop to make and that was an important one that Ms. Pat and I were excited about. We have heard so much about our good friends Mike and Janna’s place near Big Timber, MT. We were finally going to get a chance to see it and visit with them a couple days before we make the last leg of our journey on home. We departed Coeur d’Alene about 7am and it was an easy drive 450 miles to East Boulder near McLeod, MT. We pulled in just as usual at Happy Hour………. Mike and Janna were at the end of their road waiting for us.

IMG_4479_thumb
Here is a picture I borrowed from Janna that she took as we carefully maneuvered up their driveway… Wow, What a beautiful place!! 

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by. Come on back on Wednesday and I may just have a few more pictures……..

Travel Safe and God Bless…

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

11 comments:

Jerry and Suzy said...

We don't know Mike and Janna, but from the looks of their place, we gotta meet them! If we had been at Coeur d'Alene, we'd have spent a lot of time in Post Falls with our grandson Jason and his wife Crystal. We don't get to see them very often.

KarenInTheWoods said...

What a great blog post! Touring that beautiful city, and then getting to see Janna and Mike! What fun, wish we were there with ya....

Paul and Marsha Weaver OCT. 17, 2009 said...

I can't get over how LOVELY all those gardens and hanging baskets are. I love them!
What a wonderful idea and beautiful setting to renew your vows.
We enjoy camping at Elk Clubs. That one looks super.
What a cool picture of you two driving up their driveway. I can see by that one picture that it is going to be a beauty of a spot.

Happy Hatter Bev said...

Yowsers!...that driveway looks narrow for your motorhome. What a beautiful place; beautiful photos and wonderful place to renew your vows!

Rod Ivers said...

My father went to Navy Boot Camp there at Coeur d'Alene back in WWII. He took me there when I was 13 or so, and I have never forgotten the beauty of Lake Pend Oreille. Your pictures are stunning in their beauty.. Like you I hope to make it up the again one day, but not sure that will ever happen..

Have a good stay with Janna and Mike....

Al Bossence said...

Haven't spent much time in Idaho except for driving through it one time many years ago. Looks like that hard to pronouce & hard to spell little town is a nice place. Maybe Mike will get ya busy with his little bucket loader moving some rocks around. I know all 4 of you are shooters so maybe you are all out behind the barn today cracking off a few rounds:))

Sue and Doug said...

nice tour of CDA!..and congrats on renewing your wedding vows!

xviiiaman said...

I first saw Coeur d’Alene as a youngster back in 1947. Almost 30 years later when I retired from the army in 1976, I took my family on a coast to coast trip in our first RV and made it a point to go back to Coeur d’Alene to show them this beautiful spot. Thank you for reminding me just how lovely it is.

Sue Malone said...

Just had to read about Coeur d' Alene. I first saw that most beautiful city in 1972 and moved back there from California to raise my children in Northern Idaho. The gardens were the best, because we had a very short season, but very long days and great soils. I was there when Hagedone built that resort and remember all the controversy and went to the grand opening of his hotel. I even took my kids to the old amusement park that used to be on that point where you renewed your vows. Thanks for the memories...sigh...

Anonymous said...


I am not sure where you are getting your info, but good topic :0))!

TravelBug-Susan said...

Congratulations on renewing your vows. How meaningful to renew them in a beautiful place with fond memories.

Now you have even more fond memories!

Well done.