the Coeur d'Alene...

I went to Coeur d'Alene this past weekend with a group of friends. It. Was. AWESOME. I'm baffled as to why I've never sojourned that way before. I mean, I've lived in Idaho for 4 years now, and Coeur d'Alene (hereafter refered to as "the CDA") has got to be the prettiest part of the Spud State (if not THE WORLD!). I'm being serious here, people. The CDA is gorgeous, and there's so darn much to do, too...

Hiking: CHECK
Biking: CHECK
Lakes and rivers and streams to frolick in: CHECK
Fun shops: CHECK
Stellar places to eat: CHECK

You see? It's like living in a dream, I'm sure, residing in the CDA. This ginabean LOVES it there...

Anyhoo, here are some highlights followed by some pictures. (I seem to like this format of late, yes?)

Here's to:

*Biking 50 miles in 2 days
*Mentally taking myself to Disneyland in the dark, cold, damp 1.7 mile tunnel at Haiwatha
*Huckleberry cheesecake
*Huckleberry licorice
*Feeling utterly unattractive in my biking helmet
*"How's your bum today?"
*Jeff's stellar grillin' skills
*Stinking like garlic for a full 24 hours after eating at the White House Grill
*Jeff swearing off Greek food after eating at the White House Grill
*Canoeing at Lake CDA to an island, then jumping off smallish cliffs into said lake
*Screaming like a little girl when jumping off cliffs into said lake
*Worrying for Jeff's safety (and sanity) when he decided to jump off
a high cliff and over a tree into said lake
*"Thank you, Karen and Richard Carpenter..."
*Making excellent time to CDA and back
*Sleeping badly all 4 nights, but still smiling all day every day 'cause CDA rocks!
*My snarky comments being lost on Jeff, but never lost on Janae!
*Spending lots of time in nature
*Spending lots of time in excellent company
*Shopping with the gals while the menfolk went shooting
*"It's my one birthday wish to...[fill in the blank]."
*Bryan's stellar sense of direction ("Which way are we going now?")
*Playing "Who is this?" to songs on the radio (Jen always won!)
*Finding out 7-Eleven exists in northern Idaho, but being too full to get a Slurpee
*Officer Bryan getting pulled over by a state trouper
*Singing Janeen Brady songs (from start to finish!) out of the blue
*"Lemme know if I'm being irreverent back there..."

My crew doing the CDA trail:
Me (big head up front), Jen, Janae, Jeanna, Bryan

Beautiful, huh?


Jeanna and Janae got on a Carpenter kick and kinda performed for us...

4.2 million lily pads...

Meeting the other group along the way...
(We each started at different points and passed each other "in the middle.")
Jeff, Jami, Kelly, Brooke, Gina, Bryan
(Not pictured from the other group is April)

Resting for a moment...
Gina, Janae, Jen, Jeanna

Yep. That's a phone booth in the middle of a lake...

Cool metal bug on the lake...

Bryan found a dead snake...

Just about the final stretch of our 35 mile ride:
we got to go uphill...which was not exciting unto me

Awaiting the Hiawatha...

I felt so pretty in my head gear...

Riding through the first tunnel (1.7 miles of darkness),
a few of my peeps got dirty bums...


The tunnels got dark and sometimes made me nervous...

Janae (the birthday girl) and I kinda took our time with silly pictures on this ride.
Clearly.

This is why I say living in the CDA would be like unto a dream...

Stopping for a cheese stick break...

At one point, I almost dropped my camera way down there...

When we stopped for lunch, Bryan made friends with a chipmunk
We called him Alvin

The shuttle ride down...
moi, Jen, Jeanna, Janae

At the end of Hiawatha...
Jeff, Jami, Brooke, Gina, Janae, Bryan, Jen, Jeanna

Janae hauling the kayak at the lake...

Nervous smiles before jumping into the lake...
Jami, Brooke, Gina

Too bad you can't hear the scream that escaped my lips all the way down...

The water was lovely, though...

Synchronized jumping...
Bryan, Jeff, Kelly

CANNON BALL!!!

Jeff's awesome jump...

Jami had a lot of fun shopping...

The huckleberry cheesecake...
Look at all those huckleberries!!!
(It's probably the best cheesecake I've ever tried)

I'd like to thank PBS for doing a little informative story on the joys of the CDA. I'd also like to also thank Janae for watching PBS. I also want to thank Janae and Jeanna for planning this little trip and for letting me come. IT WAS PERFECT! And one more shout-out to Kelly for being from the CDA and knowing about the awesomeness of Gooey's (where I partook of the amazing cheesecake).