Coeur d' Alene

Next up was Coeur d'Alene! We met a sister missionary a few weeks before our trip who was from Coeur d'Alene so we asked her where we should go to eat and she recommended Hudson's Hamburgers. We stopped there first for lunch! It was a no-frills place and we enjoyed our hamburgers in nearby McEwen Park.

We stayed in a house we found on Airbnb and it ended up being such a great fit for our family. It was within a short walking distance of the park, the lake, downtown, and awesome hiking area called Tubbs Hill. It was in a really cute neighborhood and we loved our stay there. There was even a detached game room behind the house that had darts, and the bit hit, shuffleboard.

On our first night in CDL, we went downtown and checked out the farmer's market. Lots of yummy things to try!

The hands-down favorite for Jackson and I were the huckleberry handpies we found. They were AMAZING. We loved them so much, we went to their shop the morning we left for home and bought all they had left and took some to my parents to try!

The kids liked this library booth where they could each pick out a book to take for free.

These cute moose were all over the city and Molly was a big fan.

We enjoyed walking around downtown and checking out the waterfront. CDL is such a beautiful city!

We rode our bikes that evening to a little beach close to our rental. The kids were fully clothed, but ended up swimming anyway!

The next day we started out the day hiking around Tubbs Hill. I loved that we could just walk straight to the trail from our house. It was beautiful and a perfect hike with the kids.

We stopped about halfway through and had a picnic on a little beach and went swimming. Sean, Jackson, and Bode had fun jumping off the rocks into the lake. 

I remember sitting here looking at Bode and thinking how grown up he looked and how much I love this kid.

Sean jumping off the rock

Molly found another moose at the end of the trail!

We concluded the hike with a trip to the CDL Resort for ice cream. This was another suggestion by the sister missionary (Sister Ball) we met a few weeks prior. She told us we needed to go order a "gooey." I loved all of the red geraniums at the resort!

We found Sister Ball's sister who works there and texted her a picture and said hello! It was fun to make that connection.

Behold, the "gooey." They were huge! And delicious!

After the hike we headed back to the house to make a plan for the rest of the day. We ended up renting a few bikes (we brought the boys' bikes with us) and taking a bike ride on the Centennial Trail. I have to hand it to the kids (especially Davis) because there were a few spots with some decent incline, and we rode a decent distance. It was a beautiful ride around part of the lake and I am glad we went. 

That night we walked to dinner downtown and ate at a fun place called "Crafted." The kids thought it was so awesome that this place does turtle races in their restaurant on the weekend. Jackson ordered a burger I still think about-- it was so good! When we were done, most of the family wanted to head home, but it was such a beautiful night, I sort of wanted to hike around Tubbs Hill again. Jackson was nice and said he'd come with me. We hiked it the opposite direction this time and came out close by our house. I loved this one-on-one time with him!