Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

We began our two-week adventure out West on July 20th at the crack of dawn. We loaded the kids into the car at 5:30 a.m., and once awake, Bryn and Luke were amazed in seeing their first rising sun, which was a glowing, pinkish-orangish orb just above the horizon. In line at security, Luke, commenting on the woman in line ahead of us, said, "Look how tall her shoes are." The woman overheard, but was fortunately amused. As it turns out, she was on her way to serving as a contestant in the Miss Teen USA pageant in the Bahamas...need to look to see if she placed....
It was a long day of travel as we had a delay in Denver before boarding a second flight to Spokane, where, as Bryn pointed out, "they still speak English." Then a 45-minute drive to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
We stayed at the Coeur d'Alene Resort, which offers an award-winning golf course with a green that floats in the lake! Too bad we don't golf. We had a nice room, which included a sizable balcony overlooking the harbor, although none of us understands why hotels put phones right by the toilet!


Coeur d'Alene is very pretty -- the lake is dark blue, and evergreens and mountains provide a beautiful backdrop. During our first full day there, we took the kids to a terrific playground that very much reminded us of the Swing Park in St. Augustine, FL. Bryn and then Ken tried hanging and then sitting on a high apparatus that rotates.




Back at the resort, Bryn and Luke got to experience for the first time a hot tub, which they both enjoyed. In the afternoon, we took an 8-minute boat ride to the resort's private beach. Bryn loved the boat ride and the wind blowing her hair, but Luke was more fearful and preferred to sit inside the covered cabin.
The beach was beautiful, but the shore was very pebbly and the seabed was so rocky it hurt our bare feet.

The next day Ken had a client meeting, so I took the kids to a nearby waterpark, which Bryn said was "better than [she] was expecting". It included a wave pool, which Luke enjoyed playing in; an indoor-outdoor hot tub, which both kids thought was cool; and a series of very long water slides. Bryn bravely did the slides by herself, which required walking up six flights of stairs to get to the top while I waited at the bottom with Luke. Not an easy place to take two kids by yourself, but we managed.
In the evening we drove to a very, very rustic residence for a wagon ride and dinner. Two horses pulled a large wooden wagon that could seat 12 adults -- and two dogs -- through a beautiful meadow.
Back at the house, Bryn and Luke each rode two horses on leads in a circle. Then it was time to roast hot dogs and make S'mores. The fire was too hot for Bryn, so she let someone else roast her hot dog. Luke, meanwhile, felt a drop of rain, and given a new fear of storms, panicked and insisted, through tears, on leaving immediately. To Bryn's disappointment, we didn't stay long enough to make S'mores, but she and Luke were given the ingredients in a cup upon our departure. I don't know what we're going to do about Luke's paralyzing fear of rain and storms...