Back to Idaho

Monday, we left Washington and headed to Coeur d'Alene, which is only about 30 miles east of Spokane. It is the largest city in the northern Idaho panhandle and is right on the Lake Coeur d'Alene or CDA as it is sometimes referred to.  It has become a big tourist area and has two major ski resorts in the area. The campground we are staying at, Blackwell Island RV Park, is right on the lake. Unfortunately we couldn't get a spot close to the water and are in the back with the entrance to the park in back of us. Oh well, we can't always get the perfect spot. The park is nice and has a nice beach area, including an area that dogs can go into if they want.

Got some nice pictures in the evening with a gorgeous sunset.

Tuesday we took a drive around the lake. We were going to check out another campground which I thought wasn't too far from where we were. It was about 45 minutes but we were on the scenic byway and so it turned out to be a lovely afternoon admiring the views of the lake. The lake spans 25 miles long and has 109 miles of shoreline. It is a great place for fishing and boaters to enjoy. A lot of the shoreline seems to be private with lots of vacation homes.

I took this picture of an old truck that was on the side of a road. I was reading that there are many old Ford Model T autos at the bottom of the lake as people would drive over the frozen lake in winter in the 1900's to save time getting to the other side and sometimes the ice would break. There are also some steamboats that were burned when no longer used to ferry people across the lake and these ruins are often explorer by divers.

                                                                                                                                                                                
                                                Terry and Nancy, whom we met at the Escapees Hop were staying here at the same time as us. We got together a few evenings for cocktails and conversation. One evening we went to the Cedars Floating Restaurant which is right by the campground. It is buoyed by 600,000 pounds of concrete encased Styrofoam and has awesome views of the lake and Spokane River. Picture below is from their website.

We all shared appetizers, including yam fries over Gorgonzola cream sauce sprinkled with Gorgonzola cheese and drizzled with honey balsamic vinegar. We love sweet potato fries but these were especially good. We also had calamari and a crab artichoke dip with crostini. Good food, good views and good friends