Beautiful IDAHO! Coeur d'Alene - Bonner's Ferry

 Aug 31st-Sept 4^th – We really enjoyed our stay in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho!  What a great town, full of interesting things and beauty on every hand!  

Arriving in Coeur d'Alene....

 Shortly after arriving in town, we saw this sticker on the back of a truck.... pretty funny.

 Our RV park this time was Blackwell RV Resort ($60 a night for waterview) with nice spacious lots and the friendliest people.  Earl’s adopted description of the places we go is so apt – “the new front porch of America!” Here’s some pictures of the RV park...

We had hoped to have our car fixed while we were here, but no luck.  It would take 3-4 days to get the parts in and then 5-6 days for repairs, and we already have reservations in Canada so we’re on a time limit or we’d have likely stayed, as we really really like it here.  The combination of mountains and lakes provide scenic drives and the mild weather was wonderful.  Colors are already starting to change and by the time we left it had been low 40s at night!  Brrr, that’s cold for us Floridians!  The days warmed up to mid 70’s most of the time, one day was only mid 60’s so we definitely decided it was time to put away our flip flops and sandals, and bring out the sweaters, jeans and jackets. I don’t like really hot weather, but I sure don’t like really cold weather either.  This is about my limit, ha…. 

We rode around Hayden Lake one afternoon, and in someone's yard, this deer was just playing around.... how cute!

We went into town to go to see the movie War Room (LOVED it, by the way!  Powerful movie!!) and it reminded us a lot of the shopping center there where the theater is in Lake Mary at home....Condos above and around the shopping areas, and beautiful shops and landscaping everywhere!  We enjoyed walking around and eating at one of the little restaurants right there after the movie.

The Coeur d’Alene lake is just  spectacular, supposedly one of the top 5 most beautiful lakes in the world! I was curious about the name, obviously French so we asked around – in 1805, the first recorded penetration into north Idaho was by people of European descent. Early French speaking traders name the area and the Coeur d’Alene Indian tribe. The most prevalent theory is that trappers considered the Indians sharp traders with pointed hearts the size of an awl’s point, so they called them Coeur d’Alene which means “heart of an awl.” Many settlers arrived in this area in 1883 with the discovery of gold. After the turn of the century, logging became an important industry here. Huge log jams were moved on the lakes and rivers to mills in the area. During the early part of the century, the area became a popular tourist spot as trains brought people from Spokane, WA to enjoy the parks and beaches here. To this day, tourism supports the growth of this area. We enjoyed a 90 minute boat ride around the lake.  It is truly beautiful as you can see from the photos.

 Talk about building your house on a rock! 

 We were told these condos range from 3,000 sq. ft. to over 8,000 sq. ft.  Wonder what the price tag on one of these would be?

One night while we were there, we went to this awesome restaurant just walking distance from our RV park. It's a FLOATING restaurant - so cool and great food!

Friday, Sept 6^th, we drove to Bonner’s Ferry, a town pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Leaving there, we still drove another 25 miles to our RV park, Idyl Acres and it is the most serene peaceful place ever.  An elderly couple own this land and they made a large space for only 10 RV spots….we’re the only ones here, and it’s like we’re in the middle of a forest.  So pretty. We’re only 4 miles from the Canadian border, which is the reason Earl chose this park. They’ve been having trouble with bears so told us to keep a look out!  

 This is the couple's house who own the park...sweetest elderly couple. I can't imagine how they maintain all this acreage, but from what they said, they do it all by themselves!

We were the only occupants of the 10-site park.  They said the most common people who stay are just like us - using it as a place to leave the RV while they go into Canada.

 We had NO service of ANY kind – no cell service, no internet, nothing at all!  Felt kind of weird, but strangely kind of to be totally unplugged.   Earl purchased an international plan for this time so that when we get to Canada that he’ll have GPS but I’m putting my phone on airplane mode to avoid those horrendous international charges.  Hopefully our hotel will have wifi! On to Canada.....