Coeur d' Alene, ID (Day 3)

Tuesday, September 24

For today’s adventure in Coeur d’ Alene, Andi and I decided to take a road trip along the Coeur d’ Alene Scenic Byway. Having a rental car meant we could leave the RV parked at the campground, and adventure to places we wouldn’t normally be able to navigate.

I loaded the minivan with snacks and coloring books for the kids, and Andi packed a picnic for lunch for us. Conveniently, the Coeur d’ Alene Scenic Byway left right from our campground.

First stop on our driving tour was Harrison, Idaho — a charming little town located on the southern end of Lake Coeur d’ Alene. The road there winded along the eastern side of Lake Coeur d’ Alene through dense forests and steep cliff drop-offs toward the lake. It was beautiful and a little queasy feeling.

In Harrison, we stopped by Cycle Haus for coffee and a pastry. Andi struck up a conversation with the owner about local bike trails while Tory, Aden, and I shared a blueberry muffin to calm our upset tummies.

After our morning treat, we wandered through the Harrison Trading Post. Harrison is a lively place during the summertime because it’s on the water, but it was a ghost-town that morning. Even the shelves in the store were bare!

We walked down by the water and searched for a geocache along the Trail of the Coeur d’ Alenes bike trail. Geocaching is always an easy way to get the kids interested in exploring a town.

Back on the road, the Coeur d’ Alene Scenic Byway intersected with the White Pine Scenic Trail. We hopped on that route and followed it to the town of Wallace. The White Pine byway weaved through farmlands, forests and along the river in some parts. It was a pretty drive. I don’t think we saw another car the entire way.

Andi pulled off at Rose Creek for a picnic lunch. The weather was chilly, but sunny.

Next stop was the small town of Wallace, Idaho. It’s claim to fame is that the entire town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The whole place felt like a tourist trap to me. We’d hoped to bike the infamous Route to the Hiawatha Scenic Bike Trail which left from Wallace, but the trail was closed for the season. That meant wandering around the town’s gem shop and touring the Northern Pacific Railroad Museum were our next best options.

The first place we stopped in Wallace was Johnson Gems and honestly, they were downright rude to us. The minute we entered the store, a man from the back shouted for Aden not to touch anything. “You break it, you buy it!” he said. We looked around at the gemstones and antiques on display for a few minutes before quickly making our way to the exit.

The woman working the front counter at the Northern Pacific Railroad Museum, on the other hand, was very welcoming. She invited the kids into the museum and let them play with a plastic toy train. We toured around the museum and met a gentleman upstairs fixing the model train. He kindly showed Tory and Aden all the different buttons, sounds and lights to push to make the trains work. I’m not particularly interested in trains, but I think it’s neat how people that do love them are so willing to share their passion with others.

As we walked back to our rental car, we stumbled upon a sign that read “Center of the Universe” and Tory took her picture in that very spot. In 2004, the town mayor declared Wallace the Center of the Universe and then followed by saying, “Why not? Prove it isn’t.” That takes Wallace’s weirdness factor up to a whole new level.

We left Wallace on Interstate 90, heading back to Coeur d’ Alene. On the way, we passed a town called Kellogg and I encouraged Andi to stop to check it out. Kellogg is home to Silver Mountain ski area and has a gondola that takes people to the top of the mountain. I thought this sounded like a fun activity, but unfortunately the gondola only runs on weekends in the fall. We drove through the town of Kellogg, but we couldn’t quite figure it out. Nothing we saw drew us in to further explore.

Andi and I felt the need to run the kids a little bit since they’d been sitting in the car all day, so we stopped at Mineral Ridge Scenic Trail on our drive back to Camp Coeur d’ Alene campground. Reviews of the Mineral Ridge Trail promised gorgeous views of Wolf and Beauty Bays on Lake Coeur d’ Alene.

Five minutes into the hike, Tory was already complaining her legs were tired. But, I’m proud to say she kept going. The more we hike on this trip, the more the kids get used to walking through the woods to stretch their legs.

This trail is marked as moderate and admittedly, it was a bit of a climb. I don’t mind stopping as many times as the kids need to rest as we’re hiking so long as they don’t complain. They can climb on downed tree trunks, pick up pine cones or have a snack — whatever it takes to keep on going.

One mile into our hike, we reached the Caribou Cabin and a small overlook. It was … anti-climatic to say the least. “That’s it?” Tory said. “I thought we were going to see Lake Coeur d’ Alene.”

We almost turned around, but at the last minute decided to keep on going. The entire trail loop was 3.3 miles and we were basically half-way there.

The hardest part of any hike is the first 15 minutes. Once we get in the groove, the kids and I start signing songs, telling stories, or being silly, we all have a great time together.

A little farther down the trail we saw it — a gorgeous overlook of Lake Coeur d’ Alene. That’s what we’d hoped to see!

When we got back to Camp Coeur d’ Alene campground, I suggested we take out the free canoes on the lake but Andi was having none of it. With the weekend forecast calling for snow, I knew today would be one of the last warm days we’d have for a while. Instead, we hung out at the RV for the rest of the evening. Tory and Aden worked on their teepee while Andi grilled dinner. We finished the night with a family Netflix movie night. All in all, a busy, fun day in the Coeur d’ Alene area.