From Pullman to the Idaho Panhandle

Long time between posts, and I'd like to give you MY perspective about Pullman and Idaho.  Washington is a glorious state, and before crossing into Idaho we had one more stop in Pullman.  I can't tell you how many times Jose told me about the most handsome dog named Duke whose person Linda was a neighbor of his in Florida; his dog Rocky and her dog Duke were great friends and he was looking forward to reconnecting.

Linda is pretty cool and has worked in a biology lab with the same biologist for over 30 years.  She's an animal lover and volunteers at the local shelter.  Besides Duke and a recent foster, Lucy Bean, two awesome cats named Hazel and Nevada also live with her - which Jose neglected to mention!  All of the members of her four-legged family are sweet and very sociable.

We visited the Moscow Saturday Market in nearby Idaho which was actually loaded with tons of produce plus many crafts and other tasty goodies: Sisters Cookies feature a lemon frosted sugar cookie; homemade basil/blueberry AND peach ice cream also on homemade sugar cones (heaven!); tamales; hibiscus iced tea!  So much more, but I figured that was enough gluttony for one day...

Another place I wanted to visit was the Washington State University campus; its red brick towers peek out from among the green hills from the town of Pullman below.  There's a nice vibe in the town and reminded me much of New England college towns.  The school runs a dairy and produces cheeses, milk and ice cream – Ferdinand’s.  However, getting round Pullman's hills in the RV was pretty difficult; the hills are steeper than College Hill up by RISD and Brown – while fun to drive in a compact stick shift, not so fun in a 21’ X 10’ X 8’ vehicle.   Being the ice cream connoisseur that I am, I was obviously disappointed that we would have to skip the dairy tour.  Alas!  When we all went to dinner that evening, what a surprise to find that they serve a delicious crispy peach cobbler a la mode with a hearty scoop of none other than Ferdinand’s vanilla ice cream.  Oh it was SO worth it!

After a nice relaxing weekend with Linda and the critters, we prepared to cross into Idaho.  Now, I can’t say that I was extremely excited to go to this state and was kind of glad that we were driving through the panhandle only.  Before I continue, let me preface the remainder of our visit by saying that once again Jose kept mentioning a town called Coeur d’Alene; he couldn’t tell me much about it just that he’d heard the name several times and it was marked indelibly in his mind as a place he’d like to visit some day.  I looked it up in TripAdvisor and saw some pretty photos, so I figured it would have some nice scenery at least and settled back for the ride.

A humongous Paul Bunyan statue greeted us on the left; on the right was an extension campus of University of Idaho (Linda works at their campus in Moscow); a half mile beyond that a shady park directly in front of Lake Coeur d’Alene; the town opened up right across from the park entrance with the Chamber of Commerce/Visitor Center and comfortably walkable 11 by 3 block eclectic downtown area.  We drove to 8th street and parked in the government center that provided free visitor parking right near a newly paved bike path that follows the lake all the way back into town (we discovered later that the path goes much further than that).  We decided to take the dogs for a walk on the path and discovered that we could catch a free downtown shuttle that runs every 15 minutes and stops all along Lakeside, through town and to the Paul Bunyan statue.  My apathy quickly turned to an urgent desire to explore this cool little town nestled in among the evergreens, hills and water.

I took the shuttle 1st on a reconnaissance mission and learned that the dogs could ride on the shuttle too; but I declined this time around since it was too hot to walk them through town at that time of day.  I was the only passenger, and the bus driver and I had a lovely conversation during the short drive down Lakeside.  She let me off the shuttle near the visitor center and I crossed the street practically running toward the water to see how close I could get.   I walked into the park and watched everyone enjoying the outdoors; there were some people walking dogs, and as I ventured closer to the wall that edges the park lawn, I noticed some lifeguards; and then, there it was – a short beach and then the pristine, glacier fed lake.  People were laughing, playing, sailing, paddle-boarding and I wanted to run into the water right then and there.  Suddenly I was smiling and taking it all in as I enjoyed the cool breezes when I had been sweating just a few moments before.  I crossed back over to town and started walking back toward the parking lot hoping the shuttle would drop by soon.  When it did, I returned to the RV and hopped in the driver’s seat and told Jose I needed to get into that lake right away!  So off we went finding a parking spot closer to the park.  I threw on my bathing suit (ugh – but I didn’t even care) and we all walked over to the water.  Jose said no way was he going swimming in the frigid water so he and the pups found a bench overlooking the beach and bikinis (!) and I hightailed it down to the water.  It was numbing, but SO refreshing and I eventually mustered my courage to submerge.  There is nothing better than swirling in the water and feeling weightless, cool, alive and like a kid.  I laughed as two young guys with their girlfriends atop their shoulders played and tried to knock each other off into the water;  I smiled as I watched another bather inch her way into the lake hoping she would just dive in and say, the wwwater’s jjjust fffine, to her boyfriend; I put my head back letting my hair float loosely in the clear, crystal lake while my body slowly rose to the top till my toes appeared with rivulets of waterdrops dripping back into the water; hypnotized by the open, blue skies above and the evergreen hills enfolding all of us on the lake I floated.

Well, I’ll be darned…Couer d’Alene is now on the list of top 5 cities where I can seriously see myself living for awhile (the list to be shared later).  I cannot even imagine every day taking a bike ride to work, walking downtown at lunchtime, heading to the lake after work on a hot day for a quick refreshing dip.  Everything is just right there in a sweet little nutshell.  And 10 minutes away outside of the cocoon is everything else you can think of; pretty perfect!

"The name Coeur d'Alene translated into English means Heart of an Awl, a reflection of the perception of the tribe's traders as very tough businessmen." (Wikipedia) Some other plusses for this town: CityLink is free public transportation provided by special collaboration between the city and tribal councils so that ALL residents are assured reliable transportation to work, home & shopping; numerous employment opportunities (companies like Sysco have relocated headquarters here); progressive; education available; aquatic center in town; excellent senior retirement services.  I found out that Coeur d'Alene is ranked as the 4th best city to live in the US - who knew?