Coeur d' Alene, ID (Day 4)
Wednesday, September 25
One final day as a family in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho before Andi left for work in Minneapolis. Andi and I couldn't decide what we wanted to do with our day. There was still more to see in Coeur d’ Alene, of course, but I wanted to save a few local CD’A activities for the weekend when the kids and I would be here by ourselves. We considered driving south to Moscow, Idaho — home of the University of Idaho —or driving an hour west to Spokane, Washington for the day. Ultimately, we chose Spokane.
Spokane is the “big city” hub for communities located in the Eastern Washington / Northern Idaho area. It has the closest international airport and Riverfront Park which was the site of the 1974 World’s Fair. There’s also a 37-mile paved bike trail that follows the Spokane River. That’s what we planned to do today.
I did school with Tory and Aden while Andi readied our bikes, and then we packed up the RV and drove one hour west to Spokane. Welcome to Washington! (We’d say that about 20 times over the next few days as we bounced back and forth between the Idaho/Washington border.) Andi located an oversized parking lot about 10 miles from Spokane’s city center, and that’s where we left the RV parked for the day. From there, we biked along the Centennial Bike Trail toward Riverfront Park.
Riverfront Park had so much to offer! The park covers 100-acres of space in downtown Spokane. A huge metal/wire structure in the center of the park offered a look-out point for the Spokane Falls roaring below. The playground was under construction, unfortunately, but there was an indoor carousel and a sky ride over the falls. There was also a giant Radio Flyer Wagon with a slide that the kids loved zipping down.
We struck up a conversation with a pair of ladies from Wisconsin, of all places! They were visiting Spokane for a photography seminar and were the 6th people on this trip to ask to take a picture of our family on our Rad Power Bikes. It cracks me up that we’re such a spectacle!
Andi bought the kids each a ticket to ride the indoor carousel. As they rode, I read the placard posted on the wall and found it so interesting that this carousel was hand carved by Charles Looff in 1909. Hand-carved! Can you imagine? It was beautiful.
As we were leaving, a woman handed us two unlimited ride wristbands to come back to the carousel again. Tory and Aden were super excited about that! Andi and I convinced them to leave the park so we could have lunch and promised we’d return to Riverfront Park later so the kids could ride the carousel again.
The four of us hopped back onto our bikes and rode to the Kendall Yards neighborhood of Spokane. Kendall Yards is an up-scale neighborhood with condos, shops, and restaurants overlooking the Spokane River. We picked a restaurant called Central Food for lunch and opted to eat outside on the patio. The weather was warm and sunny - a perfect 60 degree fall day.
Andi ordered bibimbap for his lunch, I chose a lentil bowl, and the kids split an order of the L.A.B. Experiment — which was basically a smorgasbord of crusty bread, cheese, sliced fruit, nuts, and a cup of chili. The food and service were very good.
After lunch, we continued biking along the Centennial Trail with gorgeous views of the Spokane River. There were a few interpretive signs along the trail that talked about glacial floods rushing through to carve this river valley.
Eventually, we turned around and biked back along the trail to Riverfront Park so the kids could ride the carousel again. “Unlimited means we can ride as many times as we want?” Tory asked, with glee. Yep — knock yourself out. I think Tory and Aden rode the Riverfront Carousel at least six times in a row.
The four of us continued biking back along the Centennial Trail, back in the direction of our RV. Once our bikes were loaded up, we made the one-hour drive back to Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.
That evening at the campsite, Tory and Aden played with their homemade wooden teepee until it was dark. Andi packed his bag for his work trip to Minneapolis, and reviewed all the RV operations with me one more time.
Tomorrow, the kids and I will be on our own in Coeur d’ Alene.
