Coeur d'alene

This was my first excursion to Idaho, and I will be back to Coeur d'alene! I was surprised to find only 44,000 people lived there, and that Lake Coeur d'alene surrounded the entire town. Downtown was filled with cute little boutiques and bars and restaurants.

I dropped a fair amount of cash in the Lucky Monkey, which features reasonably priced imported clothing, purses, and jewelry, as well as the locally made stuff.

The Bistro on Spruce provided us with cheap lunches ($4/person!) and also local beers from Slate Creek Brewing--whose brewery was conveniently located across the street.

We went swimming at the beach on the harbor, within walking distance from downtown.

Though it was really rocky, the lake was a treat and the coast was lined with prized yachts and vacation homes.

We had planned on spending the night but there was not an open room or camp spot in all of CDL.

So we set off for Spokane in the rain.

The top part of Idaho, which we drove through, was maybe only 15 miles wide, and then we were in Washington!

#idaho #CDLLake #luckymonkey