Coeur D'Alene & Hiawatha Trail

We were driving to Spokane, stopped for some Cafe Rio of course, and then it started down pouring! We thought ok maybe camping is out for the night. We also thought maybe if we kept driving to Coeur D'Alene it would start to easy up a bit... it didn't so we got a cheap but very clean motel to stay in for the night. It was nice until the police showed up in the morning because of some dispute, but just part of the adventure. The next day we explored Coeur D'Alene a bit and walked on the longest floating boardwalk in the US. We loved Coeur D'Alene. The cute downtown, the gorgeous lakes in the area, really green but not too rainy, great parks, and views, but mostly it was probably the people we end up staying with.

How we've been living lately

Part of the boardwalk on the lake

There is a children's book about a moose and mouse exploring the town so they have these statues of them from their adventures in the book all over the city.

Matt knew he had a former seminary teacher that had moved to the area a year ago. We decided to check out the seminary building that we just happened to find, the only one and we were really lucky to find, maybe destined to find it. We walked in to say hi and he immediately remembered Matt and all about his life, his friends, his accomplishments. This guy really cares about his students, gets to know them, and remarkably remembers so much about them. He invited us to stay at their house and his wife was so nice and all up for it too! They have six kids with one more on the way and they live in this beautiful house with such a great view. Honestly though their house was just so inviting and felt like a safe haven (maybe it was such a contrast from the motel the night before) but you definitely could tell that the spirit was welcome and invited there. Even with six kids it was a peaceful place. They didn't stop with their generosity they took us out to dinner too! The food was so delicious (Bonsai Bistro, they had a fish pond as part of the floor of the restaurant) and the company even better. These two are so fun, easy going and have one of the best "how did you meet" stories ever! We loved staying with them and hope to be back to visit during Christmas because we heard it is magical there at that time.

Matt with Brother King

They took us to gooeys and didn't warn us how big the dessert we ordered! But it was so delicious I guess we didn't mind :)

Theirs was a bit more portion appropriate

They Kings told us about the Hiawatha trail nearby too. THIS IS A MUST DO! It is this great biking trail on an old rail road line. It is mostly flat with maybe a 2% decline so it was an easy and fun ride. The most unusual part was riding through all the tunnels. The first one was a mile and a half long in complete darkness so you definitely need a head lamp to get through it. It's a bit cold and wet so make sure to bring a jacket. We also got rained on at the end too but thankfully we didn't have to bike all the way back up in the rain because we bought shuttle tickets prior to going that would bring us back near our cars. You just have to go through the 1.5 mile long tunnel again to get to where the cars are parked. I didn't mind going through again even though it was a lot colder the second time because it was such a unique experience. The views were incredible the whole way down too.

We made it through the first tunnel

Matt's deer friend. We also saw a snake on the road that I saw too late and I ran over its tail.