Family Vacation to Coeur d'Alene

A couple of Saturdays ago I flew to Seattle to go on Heidi and Chad's family vacation. What an honor it was for me to be invited! Before we took off on our trip, I played dolls with Corinne and visited with the rest of the family, and on Sunday night I was fortunate to meet a second cousin of mine. He is a highly decorated (the highest) retired officer of the US Navy.

Yours truly and Bill

L to R: yours truly, Bill, Corinne and Heidi

Monday we took off for Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. We drove in their pick-up truck and they allowed me to sit in the front. Poor Heidi was wedged in the back seat between Marshall and Corinne and their dog, Lucy, a beautiful Golden Retriever, was on the floor under Corinne's feet.

Route I-90 from Seattle to Coeur d'Alene was beautiful. First we drove through the magnificent Cascade Mountains, then we crossed the grand Columbia River, which was gorgeous!

Following that we saw flatter country with wheat and corn fields. Now and then there would be a ranch or some cows or horses. But then we were once again in mountains—the Rocky Mountains. They were covered with beautiful fur trees. And then we entered Idaho, and it wasn't long until we were in Coeur d'Alene. My, right away we knew it was going to be a lovely stay!

First we stopped at a beautiful park for the kids to run around a bit. It was a good break for Lucy, too. Next we checked into our condo and then went to eat for it was dinner time.  We spotted a pizza place that looked good so went inside. They served delicious open fire baked pizzas. Heidi ordered an artichoke appetizer and it was just delicious. By the way, we ate there again on our last day.

Our condo was really nice. It had two bedrooms, a nice living room, bathroom, kitchen with bar counter and bar stools, a dining room, which we never used, and a balcony. It was only three blocks from the main street and downtown, so we walked everywhere we went.

One day we started out at a splash park for Marshall and Corinne while Chad took Lucy to a dog park. After that we walked to a nice park area where Heidi and the kids went into Lake Coeur d'Alene to swim. Part of that time I held onto Lucy's leash. Several people came by and asked to pet her. She loved it!

The next day Heidi and Chad took Marshall to an amusement park some twenty miles away. Prior to that they took Lucy to a doggie day care center. Corinne and I spent the day playing dolls. At lunch time we walked downtown to have lunch in a cafe. I enjoyed spending time with her.

Our final full day we went out on Lake Coeur d'Alene in a rented speed boat. Heidi and Chad also rented a tube which everyone but yours truly rode on. We took along boxed lunches and had a great time out on the water. The lake is huge and had beautiful cabins along the shore. Many of them had to cost millions of dollars.

We drove home on Friday and on Saturday, Heidi's 40th birthday, we celebrated with getting a pedicure (first time together), dinner out and birthday cake.