Coeur D'Alene, Day 1

Got to cross off something from my must-see list:  Coeur D'Alene!  (aka: CDA) We just spent a long weekend up there, and it really is beautiful!  Where to begin...  For starters, it's about a 7-hour interstate drive through Montana, without stops, to get there.  The kids did great even though they were squished next to each other in the truck (long story).  Rule #1 in the truck became the parent cliche of "Keep your hands to yourself!", which they broke countless times. :)

We didn't realize that northern Idaho is in Pacific time, so we gained an hour of time, which the kids never really adjusted for.  Since they were up and at 'em very early each morning, we got a head start on the day.  First stop was Tubbs Hill, which is a thumb of land jutting out into the lake close to downtown. It was very quiet and peaceful pre-8 am! It's covered in tall trees, and we were on the shady side with lots of pretty views of the resort and marinas.

I should mention that this moose statue was near the trailhead.  Apparently, a local author wrote a children's book about CDA starring a moose and a mouse; the city then created this "trail" through CDA highlighting certain spots with moose statues.

I digress... The main trail is populated with lots of offshoot trails down to the water.  We found one with a nice beach area to explore and unobstructed views of the main lake body.  Just gorgeous!

Within a few minutes, Hadley had fallen in the water and soaked all of her clothes, which bothered her immensely.  She preferred to go au naturel while her clothes dried in the sun.  I couldn't resist a blackmail picture or two for later.  :)

Although amusing, it became a little awkward as more hikers came by our spot, so I hitched it back to the truck to get her swimsuit, our lunch, and towels.  Ah, that's better.

As usual, Hadley was singing and doing yoga to pass the time.  This time without hands!

We could have stayed there a long time, but we had a date with a boat!  We figured a lake cruise would be a good way to see the lake, and 5-and-unders were free!  

Family picture with the resort in the background!

Some of the houses built on the lake are pretty incredible!  The set-up reminded me a bit of Lake Austin/Lake Travis, but some of these houses are only accessible by boat, and the trees are obviously different!

Although we were pretty sun-weary after the boat, the kids had spotted an awesome playground and splash park right next to the car that we had to try out before heading inside.  We were on vacation, after all!  That's Hadley coming down from the top of this rope contraption.

A couple of stranger elements in the splash park...

They were so excited that each ran off in different directions.  Here's the only picture I got of them together.  (Hadley is just off of Owen's head to the right.) :)

And just to complete the day, our rental house had this cute little park just a few blocks down the street.