Alive and Well in Idaho

Apologies for the long delay. We spent some time in areas where we weren't getting cell or internet service. Combine that with Rick working on a project for a friend and getting into his own photography, both of which require use of the computer, and I just got out of the routine of writing the blog and working on my own photos.  We may have to consider getting another computer, which we never imagined we'd need.  Maybe Santa will bring us one this year.  : )

We've been in Idaho for about three weeks now, starting in Post Falls, then Lewiston, and now McCall.

Post Falls,  ID

Post Falls in just west of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, a much raved about resort town on the much raved about Lake Coeur d'Alene. Although it is nice, it didn't knock us out, and as far as we're concerned doesn't hold a candle to Flathead Lake, Montana (our favorite).

My big accomplishment for this stage of our trip was learning how to spell and pronounce Coeur d'Alene (say coor-de-lane).

We stayed at Coeur d'Alene RV Park, which was also very nice but didn't knock us out. A warning to those who may want to stay there: It has a heck of a challenging entrance - very narrow, with stone walls on each side, and no signage until you're right on top of it. What were they thinking?

We explored around a bit, visiting the falls after which Post Falls is named.  The town has several very nice parks on either side of the river.

Kona and I took a little rocky hike in Q'emlin Park across the river from the town of Post Falls.

Interesting signage here for the local clothing optional beach, which you can just barely see in the upper left corner of the above picture. Don't strain your eyes, there were no people at the beach, even though it was a very hot day.

While in Post Falls we drove up to Lake Pend Oreille (say pon-de-ray) to the town of Sandpoint, where they also have a really lovely town park with a large beach and even larger grassy picnic area, but dogs are not allowed. : (

We also drove around Lake Coeur d'Alene and discovered a very long bike path and some cool places to kayak, both of which we took advantage of on different days.

We found (thank you Google) a really yummy pizza place in Post Falls, Nate's New York Pizza. Being a New Yorker, I am particular about my pizza, and traveling across the country has been a challenge to my pizza loving tastebuds. But we take the risk about twice a month and have actually had a lot of good pizza. My New York pizza snobbishness is in remission. 

Lewiston, ID

While in Lewiston we stayed at Hell's Gate State Park.  I loved it, but Rick was not so thrilled because we couldn't get internet, TV or cell phone service. Can you imagine? It's a wooded campground, thank goodness, because it was HOT while we were there, but those trees got in the way of our satellite reception.  

 The park has hiking and biking trails that pass right through the campground, and a large sandy beach on the Snake River, all of which we took great advantage.  I splurged (the heat made me do it) and bought two floats for us to play with. I don't think I have ever had a float and just getting into it and splashing around made me laugh so hard. I don't know how I've lived without them so long.

I scheduled a stop at this State Park so that we could take a boat trip on the Snake River through Hell's Canyon. (More about that in my next post.)  The park is actually in the upper (or is that lower - the river flows north here) Hell's Canyon, and aside from the very green (irrigated with river water) park itself, is surround by desert with some interesting volcanic rock formations. 

Our first morning there I got up at sunrise and headed out of town, out of the canyon in which Lewiston sits, and up onto the surrounding plateaus to take some pictures of the wheat farms. The light was great and the smell of the freshly harvested land was heavenly. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

 It was harvest time, so there were all these great contoured patterns created by harvesting around the rolling hills.

I believe most of the fields were wheat, but there may have been barley and different varieties of wheat as well. Some fields, like this one, looked like they weren't ready yet, and were drying or ripening at different rates depending on where the soil was moist.

Going back down into Lewiston I took the old road that winds down the canyon side.

Next post I'll finish up Lewiston with our trip through Hell's Canyon, and move us on to McCall.