The Great Roadtrip of July 2012 – Exploring Coeur d’Alene

When we left off in our recapping of our Great Roadtrip of July 2012, we were camping in Coeur d’Alene!

We camped for two nights in Bell Bay, on the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene. After enjoying our first night, we had the entire day to explore!

Three of us on the dock by our campsite

Yes, the lighting is all wrong in this photo, but I love it! Plus, it adheres to my husband’s Internet Photo Contract that he signed regarding the use of his image on my website. Heh.

Also?  Notice the pants?  Because I nearly froze to death in Seattle, I wore my pants.  Guess who nearly overheated in Coeur d’Alene because of her stupid pants and therefore may never wear stupid pants ever, ever again?  Seriously.

(No, you’re being overly dramatic.)

Paddle-boaters!

Anyway, on to the fun stuff!

One of the activities we did in Coeur d’Alene was paddle-boating! We rented a paddle-boat for half an hour and had a blast tooling around the lake.

Mush! ...or whatever the paddle-boat equivalent is.

I’ve been on a paddle-boat before and had a great time, but I’m not going to lie. This time, I got a bit nervous, but it all worked out okay.  (Click the following photos to see more detail.)

I mean, why would I worry? It's not like sea planes are landing and taking off from the lake...

The view really is gorgeous from the lake. The sailboat in the distance made this picture perfect.

All in all, we had a great time paddle-boating!  Claire was excited to check a new adventure off her list.

That afternoon, we wanted to go on a hike. You know what that means… Letterboxing!

Look at this trail! How could it not lead to adventure?

Here is JoAnn...hiking with all of her friends. Heh. (Inside joke.)

In the above photo, I’m hiking up to where Daddy and Claire are on the trail.  I’ve just stealthily re-hidden a treasure.  You know, a typical day for us.

We loved Coeur d’Alene.  It was’t too crowded, even during this “busy” time.  The views were incredible.  We’d love to explore some more if we ever get the chance.

Next update? We make the trek home!

Stay tuned!

If you’d like to catch up on all the recap posts, click here!