"The North Idaho" Vacation: Day 7

Today we finally made it home! On our way we saw a Nez Perce national historic site as well as a Sacajewea site.



We also stopped and walked around Craters of the Moon, which we're excited to go back to one day.





We had so much fun and are so grateful that Paula and Asa took us along on their 34th anniversary trip, we love you!

"The North Idaho" Vacation: Day 6

Today was clear again, which meant I could go do the activities at the lodge I had been anticipating.


They didn't open until 11am so we bummed around the lodge and playground until that time.





Then I jumped on the bungee trampoline and climbed the rock wall.


When I was done climbing, I didn't know how to get back down, so I just let go of the wall. Obviously I was hooked to the harness so I didn't fall very fast, but Ruth was watching and started shouting because she was worried about me.



As soon as I was done with that we got back in the car and started on our way home. We drove through Montana and ended in Hamilton. Here we at at the "Coffee Cup" which had great home-made food.

"The North Idaho" Vacation: Day 5

It was stormy and yucky today so we spent all morning inside. So I had time to play with Ruth's hair:


It cleared up in the afternoon so we went up to Bonner's Ferry which was only 20 miles or so from Canada! We walked around the town, which was cute and then saw Myrtle Falls.

"The North Idaho" Vacation: Day 4

Since we were staying at the top of Schweitzer Mountain it took about 20 minutes to get into town. Ruth was generously sharing the beautiful view with her Homba. On the way down the mountain we stopped for a photo session.


Today we spent down in the town of Sandpoint. We saw a really great Antique store.



Brad, the kids, and I spent time at the city park:





And we did more window shopping.


We thought the name of this women's clothing store was hilarious!

"The North Idaho" Vacation: Day 3

Today we spent the entire day in Coer d'Alene. The whole town has a moose theme.



We ate the most amazing cupcakes EVER. I had a red velvet cupcake, filled with raspberries and the most perfect cream cheese frosting ever. Not too sweet or too tart, just perfect.

We spent most of the day shopping:


The toy store had a merry-go-round that Ruth adored. She was really sad that she couldn't go on it for longer.


We also went on a cruise of Lake Coer d'Alene which was nice...except that Will wouldn't let me sit down the whole time, he wanted to be rocked...notice the grumpy face in the picture below.


After the cruise we got back in the car and drove to Sandpoint, Idaho which was about an hour away. We checked in to our place on Schweitzer Mountain, we stayed in a condo at this ski resort. And finally got to eat home-made food again.

"The North Idaho" Vacation: Day 2

The main event of today was that we went to a great Farmer's Market in Walla Walla. I got an amazing raspberry croissant drizzled with chocolate, yum. Everyone else shared a hotdog bagel which was also yummy. Ruth got some raspberries and gobbled them all up!


We saw Fort Walla Walla. This is a tree cross section cut down in the 70's that was over 500 years old when it was cut down.


We ate lunch at an amazing local place in Clarkston, WA called Hazel's. It looked like the Hawaiian aisle from the Dollar Store puked up in this place...but the food was AMAZING.


We saw University of Idaho in Moscow, Washington State in Pullman, and Gonzaga in Spokane.


We ended the day in Post Falls, Idaho. We tried to go swimming at our hotel but the water (that was suppose to be heated) was cold, so Ruth didn't like it.

"The North Idaho" Vacation: Day 1

We left around 7am and only made it to Bliss Idaho before stopping for food and the potty.



We drove through Baker City, Oregon and made it to Enterprise where we saw Chief Joseph's grave and ate lunch at a great local place call "Friends."


Our stopping place was Walla Walla, Washington. We got there around 5pm and went directly to the Whitman Mission which was our favorite thing of the whole vacation.


It was beautiful and peaceful.


And it was directly on the Oregon trail.