Northern Idaho & Glacier Park MT

Arrived in Coeur d'Alene for a couple of days, an area that I have heard so much about which made me very anxious to see and explore the area! The weather couldn't have been more perfect. The first day we actually took a drive to Spokane, WA which was only 30 miles away. We headed down to the riverfront park to check out the Spokane River Falls and the downtown area. The falls of course were awesome the water was just rushing through, not a place you would want to kayak down lol! Took a stroll through their downtown shops and found a good place for a little lunch and a beer! Another great day checking out the sites. Spokane is beautiful place which, is another place Jerry is considering moving to lol.
Our second day there we headed down to Lake Coeur d'Alene and took a nice hike along a portion of the lake, what a spectacular lake. Absolutely beautiful. Im a little jealous of the people's homes that line the lake, quite the little piece of heaven they have! Although, I'm sure the winters aren't too fun lol! I would definitely take their place in the spring and summers though. After enjoying our hike we walked over to their downtown area and walked their fun shops and found another little place for a appetizer and a beer, always a great way to end the afternoon!
Thoroughly enjoyed our time here in Coeur d'Alene definitely a place we would come back to, maybe do some kayaking...definitely enjoy the lake more! Now onto Kalispell, MT to enjoy Glacier Park!!

Arrived in Kalispell on Friday (my birthday) what a great birthday present!! We enjoyed a fun filled night out on the town of Kalispell... started out at a place called Brennigan's for a couple cocktails and a little time in their mini casino which consisted of only keno and poker. Spent a couple bucks there and then moved onto their one and only place in town that offers live music and dancing! Now we are talking! They had a awesome band playing with music right up our alley which, of course lead to a full night of dancing! Great time with my man!
We spent the rest of our time in Kalispell exploring Glacier Park, went on some absolutely gorgeous hikes, the views were breathtaking! What an amazing place. There is 700 miles of hiking trails here, we will definitely be coming back through here to hit some more amazing trails. We also took a little drive to the quaint town of Polebridge that dates back to the earlier 1900's. There is a little store and a restaurant/bar that are still the original buildings. We met the current owners that have only owned it for the last 3 years. They open during the spring/summer and it sounds like they are quite the popular place. Very nice people, they were having their grand opening events/bbq that weekend, would have loved to attended sounded like a great time! Gotta love the quaint town atmosphere's! Everyone is a friend lol.
Ok so, it is crazy we keep visiting all of these different parts of our country that are absolutely stunning and I think wow, this is it and then we go to the next place and I'm like no this is it.....it just goes on and on...What an amazing country we live in, we are blessed!!
Ok enough sappy stuff...on with the pictures, hope you all enjoy!

The Spokane River

Check out the power of that water! Crazy

Looking at the old bridge we don't know the name of..haha

The calmer side of the Spokane River

The "Spectacular" Lake Coeur d'Alene

Check out that view - amazing!

We love this lake!

 

Happy day at Lake Coeur d'Alene

Happy Birthday to me!!

The Original store in Polebridge back from the 1900's

History of the Polebridge Saloon - Pretty interesting

Here we are at Glacier Park - Exciting!

These deer are so peaceful - they are not too afraid of us

Overview from one of our awesome hikes

Made it to the top of Apgar Lookout - As we were taking this picture the bugs were sucking our blood lol

Views from atop Apgar Lookout - Stunning!

 

Lake McDonald in the morning - WOW - Must I say more

There are no words for these views

McDonald Creek...Quite the creek

Water is flowing pretty rapid here  - No kayaking for us lol

This is just awesome

View along our hike to Avalanche Lake

Check out the falls from the melting snow

Made it to Avalanche Lake - Another piece of heaven

Another view from Avalanche Lake

Everywhere you look in Glacier Park is breathtaking

Hungry Horse Dam - The park lady stated that the water was at 100% flow


It's been an awesome time! Now onwards making our way to Wyoming. Stay tuned...

Southern Idaho Adventures

Made our way to Southern Idaho, first stop Twin Falls to check out a couple National Parks and see the "Niagara Falls" of the West... (Shoshone Falls). Twin Falls is a City of approximately 44,000 people and it has it all including a Costco. You can travel from end of town to the other in 20 minutes but yet has all the shopping anyone would need. We did notice that there are a lot of young people and we looked up the demographics and the median age is 31. We entered Twin Falls crossing the Snake River on the Perrine Bridge, what a site. The Snake River is approximately 1000' below the bridge and there are base jumpers jumping off of it every day as long as it is not too windy. The weather was very cold for us, mornings of 34 degrees and highs of 50's, very windy also. It rained a couple of days we were there but we weathered it and saw the sites. Shoshone Falls is right there in Twin Falls and they call them the Niagara Falls of the west, I guess we can agree with that however, as beautiful as they are, they don't hold a candle to Niagara Falls. Just west of Shoshone Falls was also the area that Evil Kenevil attempted his jump over the Snake River. There is still a portion of his dirt ramp remaining. We traveled about 90 miles Northwest to visit a National Park named "Craters of the Moon". This is a large area of lava fields and caves created by the lava. This is also an area that some of the Apollo astronauts trained prior to their trip to the moon, so you can imagine how strange this area looks. We did hike down into a couple of the caves that were open, pretty awesome! We took another day to explore the "City of Rocks", another very strange yet very beautiful area. This area is full of rock climbers when the weather is good.
We then headed to Boise mainly to visit our friends Tom, Sharil, Jim and Debra. Some of you may know them but these are friends we developed during our careers at Sprouts. Tom and Sharil took us to many sites in the Boise area to see along with full day of winery hopping for some wine tasting! So much fun! Jim and Debra had us all over at their place for dinner and entertainment on Saturday, WOW!!!!!!!!! Jim is quite the chef. We haven't had a meal better than what Jim prepared in any 5 star restaurant, seriously!!! Jim also has a Bocce Ball court in his backyard which we learned to play and had loads of fun. Tom, Sharil, Jim and Debra have some very beautiful homes, envious, envious and envious! What a awesome time we had with our friends!
That was pretty much our southern Idaho experience and now we are onto Northern Idaho. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls

View of the Snake River from Perrine Bridge

At the overlook of Perrine Bridge/Snake River

Shoshone Falls (AKA Niagara Falls of the West)

Shoshone Falls with a Rainbow

Another beautiful view of the Snake River

Ahhh Mamma Goose with her babies

Sprouts New Proto-Type

This is where the base jumpers jump from - there is one jumping if you can see him!

 Lava everywhere you look here at Craters of the Moon

 One of hundreds of rock formations - so amazing to me

Jerry found his way out of the cave - pretty cool!

Hummm this could be interesting lol

 Looking out of one of the caves

Walking down into one of the massive caves

Inside one of the amazing caves

 One of the many massive craters

 View of City of Rocks - Pretty awesome rock formations everywhere!


 You go Jerry you lift that rock!

"Camping Rock" There are still messages on the rock from the 1800's from the
 immigrants passing through on the Oregon Trail - they used grease from the wagon wheels to write their messages

Another view of "Camping Rock"

Beautiful place - I'm sure this is heaven for rock climbers

 This is a view from a tent camping spot

Another amazing National Park to put your bucket list - it's worth a visit!

One of the 3 Boise wineries that we visited

 What a Perfect Day - Great Friends, Great Wine, Great View!

 There is our friend Tom we are in his back yard -
 check out their balcony - they have amazing views - beautiful home!

Front View of Tom and Sharil's beautiful home

 Oh wow this was cool - We had a wonderful dinner at the Yard House at the "Village"
and then sat outside and watch the dancing water fountain play to music - Great night!

 Great picture guys! Tom and Jerry outside a winery.

 Sign of all the wineries in the area - This could have been a 2 day tour lol
Must say Boise has great wine - Great idea Tom and Sharil!!

 Tom took us to a awesome overlook of the snake river - such a beautiful river

Check out this bull snake we saw along the trail - he's eating well!

Picture of the dam and an old hydro electric plant that use to be active in the 1900's.

Picture perfect back ground!

Another picture of the hydro electric plant -

 

 Individual sautéed mushrooms and scalloped potatoes - Really...this is amazing!

 Roasted cauliflower and broccoli -
These have now been added to my "To Make List" Oh so good!

Ok so these melt in your mouth ribs were our appetizer!

These too die for melt in your mouth steaks were "WOW"

We didn't get a picture of the 2" halibut however, I can say they were Superb!!!
Must say dinner was a 5 star!!

Bocce Ball Court made with a 3 inch deep surface of imported crushed oyster shells.
This game was a blast! We need this at home lol

Jerry looking down in Jim and Debra's back yard from the bocce ball court -
 Hello Tom, Debra, Sharil & Carmel

Sharil and Carmel hanging out around the fire

 (logs made out of metal with slots in them to allow flames to flow through them - they look like real wood!)

 Us with Tom on the scenic byway of the Payette River
on our way to a little town of McCall

 Our wonderful friends Tom and Sharil - Great Picture!

 View of Payette Lake from the restaurant we had lunch at in McCall

 Us at lunch - What a view!!

Oh - So this town of McCall has flags at each street crossing that you grab
and walk across the street with...in hopes that the cars will see you and won't run you over....You become your own crossing guard... Jerry and Tom crossed us safely!! Not a bad idea...and Tom and Jerry were having fun! Jerry taking pride in his duty lol!

 Great Job Tom - Keeping us safe!!

Left Boise and on our way to Coeur D'Alene - Perfect spot for a little lunch break!

 

That's it for Southern Idaho - Great times!! Now onto Northern Idaho - First stop Coeur D'Alene...to be continued