Coeur d' Alene, ID (Day 1)

Sunday, September 22

It’s a strange feeling waking up in a new place every day, but it’s also fun. When the shades are pulled and we’re tucked snug in our RV for the night, it’s easy to forget that we’re in a new place at all. The inside of our RV feels as comfortable and familiar as “home.”

In the morning when I lift the shades, it always takes me a second to remember where we camped the night before. That “where are we?!” feeling was magnified this morning in Trout Creek, Montana because we pulled into our campsite last night after dark. I had no idea what surrounded us.

There must’ve been a fishing tournament happening on the Clark Fork River nearby. As we drove through the campground in our RV, we noticed that every other person camping at North Shore Campground had a boat parked near their camper. The landing was also full of boat trailers at 7:00am.

It was difficult to get a good picture as we drove away from the campground, but the river was stunning. The cool air met the warm water creating a layer of fog floating above it. It looked like magical.

Trout Creek, Montana was merely a stop-over spot to camp overnight as we made our way to Sandpoint, Idaho. After 2 1/2 weeks in Montana, it was time to explore a new state! The 16th US state we’ve visited in our RV, in fact.

The drive along Highway 200 into northern Idaho was beautiful. The sun shined, big mountains surrounded us, and crystal clear lakes flanked the roadway.

Before that morning, I didn’t even know a place called Sandpoint, Idaho existed but Andi had heard it mentioned over the years. Sandpoint is an outdoors enthusiasts’ paradise known for its ski slopes at Schweitzer Mountain Resort, numerous biking and hiking trails, and for water activities on Lake Pend O’reille. We’ve found that small towns like Sandpoint (around 8,000 people) are our favorite to visit. There’s several activities to occupy us for the day, the people are friendly and welcoming, and it’s easy to navigate with the RV and our electric bikes.

We arrived in Sandpoint around 9:00am, and pulled into the Super 1 grocery store parking lot to gather our bearings. Andi ran into the grocery store for food supplies while I stayed in the RV with the kids and made breakfast. I found myself yelling, “Keep your hands to yourself!” several times already that morning which had my blood boiling. No matter where you’re living — RV or traditional home — parents face the same struggles with fighting kids.

After Andi returned and groceries were put away, the four of us stepped outside the RV to feel warm sunshine on our faces. It was an instant cure to any grumpy feelings. Our plan was to leave the RV parked in the grocery store parking lot and bike around Sandpoint to explore the town.

First stop was Sandpoint City Beach Park conveniently located right in town on Lake Pend O’reille. I imagine this place is hopping with activity on a hot summer’s day. The white sand seemed to stretch on for miles. There were restrooms, lifeguard stations, and a snack shop (that was closed while we were there). We took our picture next to the a small Statue of Liberty and then rode our bikes along the sidewalk to the playground so Tory and Aden could run wild.

We followed the city beach sidewalk along the lake to the trailhead for Pend d'Oreille Bay Trail. Our bikes aren’t the most comfortable to ride on dirt trails, but the wooded path wrapping around the lake was beautiful. This hiking/biking trail was busy on a Sunday morning with lots of people walking their dogs, so we caught a few dirty looks from people as we rode by. Then, the trail ended abruptly at a water treatment plant and we had to turn around and pass all those people again for a second time.

Back on pavement, we continued to bike around the town of Sandpoint. We found a paved bike trail that lead through town and passed by lots of interesting stores … like this drive-thru liquor store. Neither Andi or I had ever seen one of those before!

We came across a farmer’s market in the parking lot of Winter Ridge Natural Grocery and decided to stop. Turns out, it was more of a vendor fair than a farmer’s market but it was still fun to walk through and sample all the different healthy products for sale in the store. Tory liked the cheese samples the best. Aden liked the beef jerky.

A man at the market was making free balloon animals for kids. Tory picked a balloon flower and the man made Aden a sword. The kids were both excited about that.

Meanwhile, we found Andi in line for free lunch. The grocery store was giving away pulled pork with quinoa salad to everyone at the vendor fair that day. How awesome was that?! The kids and I weren’t very hungry so we decided to pass on lunch for now.

You can really tell a lot about a town by visiting events like this one. Everyone at the Sandpoint market was happy. Families were milling about with their kids doing their regular Sunday afternoon business and it all had a good vibe. Sandpoint is definitely a place I’d come back to visit again.

As we left the vendor fair, a couple stopped to comment on our e-bikes. They also have a set of Rad Power Bikes and were curious about our bike setup. It was fun to talk to someone who loves biking around on electric bikes as much as we do.

From the grocery store, Andi, Tory, Aden and I continued our ride along the bike path. We followed the trail to the next town over called Dover. This is a smaller community on the lake with some beautiful new houses. Andi and I had fun weaving along the Sandpint-Dover bike trail looking at them all.

We returned to Sandpoint on the same trail and stopped at a coffee shop. Evans Brothers Coffee was bustling with people sitting outside on the patio drinking coffee on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

After coffee, we popped across the street to Murphy’s Donuts. The gal working the counter (maybe she was the owner?) was very helpful in suggesting biking trails and things to do in the area. Andi ordered two homemade donuts and a scoop of ice cream for Tory and Aden. We sat in the store and looked at the city circulars while eating our treats.

After treats, we continued along the bike trail toward our RV parked at the grocery store across town. Andi and I loaded up our bikes onto the rack and then drove about 30 minutes south of Sandpoint to camp at Farragut State Park for the night.

Farragut State Park was huge! It’s the second largest state park in Idaho and offered a plethora of activities including camping, hiking, biking, fishing, boating, disc golf, horseback riding and even a ropes course.

Upon our arrival, we stopped by the Tree to Tree Adventure Park office to see if the ropes course was open. Ropes courses are one of Tory’s favorite things to do and there are hard to come by, so we were excited to see one offered here. Unfortunately, this ropes course was only open on weekends after Labor Day and given that it was 5:00pm on a Sunday night, the next time we’d be able to do the ropes course within Farragut State Park would be the following Saturday. Bummer — we’d be long gone by then.

We continued on to the Farragut State Park visitor’s center to see about camping. Andi paid the clerk a $5 deposit for access into the park so we could take a peek at the campsites. While he was in the visitor center, he also purchased a postcard in the gift shop for Tory to send to someone back home.

We drove through the campground, but the sites weren’t anything special. Honestly, the campground looked like army barracks — it was stark and didn’t have any services. Twenty dollars seemed like a lot of money to pay for this place when most of the activities were closed for the season.

At the last minute, Andi and I decided that continuing on to Coeur d’ Alene might be a better option. That’s where we planned to spend the bulk of our time in northern Idaho anyway, and a private campground might offer nicer facilities. Plus, we were anxious to see CD’A.

Andi returned to the Farragut State Park visitor center to let the clerk know we weren’t going to camp there after all & to collect his $5 deposit back. Surprisingly, the clerk wouldn’t return Andi’s money! She said the $5 was the daily entrance fee for driving inside the park and Andi had been mistaken to think he would get his money back after simply checking out the campground. What the heck! Andi returned to the RV fuming mad. He said the clerk was just plain rude to him which made us want to leave the park even more. I told Andi that maybe it was a sign we should move onto Coeur d’ Alene as we planned.

We continued driving another 45 minutes south to a private campground called Camp Coeur d’ Alene. The owner warmly welcomed us and Andi even negotiated a weekly campsite rate since we’d be using Coeur d’ Alene as our basecamp for the coming week. Andi backed our RV into a spot on the hillside as the sun began to set.

Within minutes of arriving, I noticed Andi was already over talking to the neighbor parked next to us. I walked over to introduce myself to the woman who’s name was Marsha. She’d recently retired, bought a motorhome, and planned to travel full-time all by herself. How brave it that?!

Marsha insisted we stop by her fire after we ate dinner for s’mores. After all, Andi had been the one who helped her start a fire in her pit. So, we did just that. After dinner, Andi, Aden and I sat around Marsha’s fire and listened to stories about her life and family. She was so friendly. Tory was still battling a cough and was exhausted from not sleeping well the past few nights, so she decided to stay inside the RV.

Already, Camp Coeur d’ Alene was a much better fit. The campground was clean and most importantly, the staff and the customers were friendly and welcoming. Tomorrow, we were excited to see the beautiful Coeur d’ Alene.