thank God for Coeur d'Alene
a little back up story first. I knew nothing about Idaho. nothing. I’d never been there, didn’t know anyone who had… ALL I knew was we had to get from Seattle to Minnesota, my cousin and his wife had just moved to Coeur d’Alene and it’s right along I-90. spot picked. check!
before we got there, we left Vancouver and stopped to see a childhood friend of mine, one I hadn’t seen for over 20 years. he and his wife live just north of Seattle and invited us to stop in for lunch. it was the most wonderful treat.
first of all, we LOVE what they have going there. acres on a hill with a beautiful view and a river at the back of the property. chickens, bees, a green house, 2 dogs and a hike (Sophia even picked up a garter snake!). everybody was in heaven. we shared a delicious lunch, coffee and good conversation. so grateful.
a tiny bit more back story: we had a couple of stressful weeks leading up to the beginning of our trek east… the gravity of our nomadic life got to us. where would we stop? should we be looking for jobs? how long do we want to continue to travel?
when the “right” decision isn’t clear or none of the current options feel good, it can be scary. but I very much believe that if we trust (with patience), and we tap into our intuition, and we stay open and keep our feet moving... the stuff that feels real good and right and easy can be.
and then we got to Coeur d’Alene. instantly morale and faith were restored, finding a new place that felt like it could be home. it was beautiful, so beautiful. it has a lake, trees, it’s small (just under 50,000) but big enough to have a Costco (priorities!), hip delicious restaurants, a fabulous natural food store and running trails. it’s growing, so buying property would have good investment potential but it’s still affordable to be in town. dry, warm summers, 4 seasons. it checked so many of our boxes.
paved 13 miles trail along the north side of the lake!
but most of all, it just felt good. the RV park we stayed at was a big part of our experience too. it is on a bay of the lake with water access and paddle boats and a canoe for it’s guests. we enjoyed many paddle boat rides, campfires, walks on the property. we saw a beaver, turtles, geese and their goslings.
for me, calm crisp sunny spring mornings on the water is a little bit like heaven. it was almost overwhelming. I suppose, also, the calm dusk.
we became immediate friends with the property manager, Kyle (they were so good to us that leaving him and his staff felt a little like saying goodbye to family). finding good people on this trip always makes the stops sweeter.
we also got to see my cousins (during a very busy week in their lives) and meet at the downtown park for a hike and some dinner. so fun!
we've seen a lot of country and THIS playground was the best.
if you head to Coeur d'Alene, check out Crafted! they have turtle races on Friday nights ;)
we hope to be back here. we stayed longer than expected but after a week, we knew we had to move on. see ya, CDA, our time here has a special place in my heart.
