Coeur D'Alene, ID

 June 23rd - July 2nd

As we said goodbye to Hungry Horse, Montana, little did we know how beautiful the drive would be to our next destination.  Since our trip to Glacier was a little disappointing this was a wonderful surprise. 

 

We were excited that our drive would again take us down along the one hour scenic drive of Flathead Lake with its beautiful views and calming blue waters and of course the dozens of cherry groves.  But what we did not know was that for the next 2 1/2 hours we would be in awe of this part of the USA! The beautiful river views along this route is a must-see!

 

Flathead Lake

 

 

The first part of the journey ran along Flathead Lake.  This is the largest, natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower 48 states, with over 200 square miles of water and 185 miles of shoreline.  The lake is located in northwest Montana and is the source of the Missouri River.  It is one of the cleanest lakes of its size and type anywhere in the world.

 

A bonus of traveling along this lake is also the rolling fields of cherry trees.  Flathead Lake Cherry Growers, Inc., is a co-operative of approximately 100 cherry growers.  These sweet cherries are a late-season cherry and are in demand for their high quality and exceptional taste.  The beautiful trees can been seen all along the lake's edge.  I only wish they had been blooming at the time when we visited.

 

 

Flathead River

 

Once we turned onto Hwy 200 in Dixon, Montana,  we picked up the Flathead River as it turned south.  This lead us through the Flathead Valley west of the Mission Mountains and toward the City of Paradise, Montana.  The 25 mile stretch was breathtaking. 

 
This was the second of the three incredible bodies of water we would observe on this drive.   Its rich blue-green hue and surrounding landscape left me dumbstruck.

This stunning river originates in the Canadian Rockies, north of Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Flathead Lake, then after a journey of 158 miles empties into the Clark Fork.  The river is part of the Columbia River drainage basin and is the largest tributary of the Clark Fork and constitutes over half of its flow.

 

 

 

St. Regis-Paradise Scenic Byway

 

Our third and greatest surprise was the hour-long drive along the St Regis-Paradise byway.  This meandering trail follows the Clark Fork River between St. Regis and Paradise, Montana within the Lolo National Forest.  The scenic route motto is: The River, The People, The Land. 

The drive takes you through varied terrain from spacious, rolling flats to steep canyon walls and winds through the Coeur d'Alene Mountains.

The Clark Fork River flows from the Rocky Mountains in Montana into Idaho and continues on to the Columbia River for a total of 310 miles!

 

 

Kootenai County Fairgrounds RV Park

 

Our stay in Coeur d'Alene landed us in the first fairgrounds we have stayed in.  It was also the only one in the area that we could get into that had excellent cell coverage.  The grounds were very well maintained and big rig friendly.  The camp managers/hosts were very friendly. 

 

Once we got settled into our preassigned spot, they came over and introduced themselves and provided us with a park information packet.  They were also a little OCD about letting people know when it was check-out time.  So on the day of your departure, you can be sure there will be a knock at the door at 10:30 sharp reminding you that check out is at 11:00. 

 

Our first site

Site #2

We ended up staying an extra few days due to the fact that our next spot in Spokane, Washington got canceled due to the owners caving in to the Covid-19 issue.

Luckily, the fairgrounds had a site available but it required us to move to the next row over.  We were willing to do so and it only took an hour of our time.  Boy, have we gotten good at at this breaking down and setting up thing!

 

Coeur d’Alene is located in the northwest corner of Idaho.  It’s known for water sports on Lake Coeur d’Alene, plus trails in the Canfield Mountain Natural Area and the Coeur d’Alene National Forest. 

The city of Coeur D'Alene is only 33 miles from Spokane, WA and during our visit there were a lot of demonstrations going on there.  We were very surprised to see that the rioting/protesting going on in Minneapolis, New York, La, just to name of few, would spill out into this quiet, peaceful city in Idaho, but they did.  

 

A couple of evenings, we had a line of cars, riding throughout the city for hours, honking their horns, shouting slogans over their PA systems.  Other than that, our visit there was pretty quiet and uneventful. 

One evening we visited the Wild West Furniture Store. It turned out to be a very interesting place.

Raccoon's Playing Poker! Who knew!

Otso the mythological bear all the way from Finland!

 

Wallace, Idaho

One of the guys from Dennis' work, that currently lives in Athens, GA, stated that his favorite small town in America was Wallace, ID and highly suggested that we check it out.  So we decided to drive to the town and check it out.  Very cool little place!

 

On Thursday, our next journey will take us 7 hours southwest to Cougar, Washington where we will meet up with Dennis' sister Yvonne and her husband Dave.  Totally excited to be spending some time with family!  It gets mighty lonely out here the road!