Coeur d' Alene, Idaho

Fun times here in CDA.  After leaving Spokane, we opted for a short drive and a couple of low-key days with Steve not working.  We spent the evening in the city, walked the boardwalk, dipped our feet in the lake, walked around the city park (great park!), and played on the big wooden playground.  The parking is free, up to two hours, so we did have to rush to make it back to avoid parking fees. 

"The worlds largest floating boardwalk"

Our first moose sighting

Water RV's aka yachts that cost as much as a house

Lake Coeur d' Alene

On our way back to our campground, we stopped to purchase a toaster (decided this was worth the space) and a vacuum.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Our vacuum died just days before our house went on the market, and we had yet to replace it.  I think/know we were immobilized by trying to find the perfect vac for our new home---not too big or bulky yet that works halfway decent.  Cheap vacuums have a tendency to agitate Steve’s asthma, so I wanted him to make the final decision. We had “gotten by” simply by borrowing vacuums of friends & family along the way, but the lack of vacuum had been a sore spot for quite some time, I admit.  Sooo…we’re currently trying out an Electrolux Ergorapido that we found on sale at Target for $90.  So far, we really like it, and would recommend it.  It is crazy how much dirt, dust & hair accumulate in this place daily!  

Since we were all up super late & really enjoying ourselves, I strongly encouraged Steve to consider staying an extra night so that we weren’t pushed for time.  He acquiesced, and so we were anticipating a relaxed, fun bonus day.  Not so much… 

We’ve been having issues since Spokane with our radio turning itself on and off.  When I mentioned it to Steve, he assured me that it was Genna sneaking in and turning it on.  I was pretty sure he was wrong, but I couldn’t prove it at first.  However, this morning, the radio turned itself on and began blaring music.  I reached over, turned it off, except it wouldn’t turn off.  While Steve was working on trying to figure out what was going with the radio, I discovered that the fridge “Check” light was on, so clearly there was some sort of power issue.  Our fun, relaxed bonus day just turned into a stressful, “what in the world is going on?” sort of day.  Once again, trials make good opportunities to get to know your neighbors who are older, wiser, and more experienced with rvs.  We cannot thank God enough for the people he has placed in our path to lend assistance just when we need it most!  Not only did our neighbors help Steve sleuth out the problem, they loaned us a battery charger which temporarily solved our issue AND they helped us light the pilot on our oven for the first time!  Woohoo!  We celebrated with a Wacky Cake ala Shanan, which we burnt sooo incredibly bad because Shanan placed the cake over the burner instead of on the rack…and neither Steve nor I realized what she had done despite checking on it!  What a huge flop…but it really was amusing, & now, we know how to use our oven!!

A day of research, short tempers, and fortunately, fabulous weather & soft grass to play in, and we determined that the converter on the RV was at fault.  No problem…we have a warranty, right?  However, it turns out that the mobile guy who Steve spoke to informed us that the part would need to be ordered & our warranty doesn’t cover shipping ($75 for overnight), and he told Steve that we could get by for as long as we needed to by using a battery charger.  Steve decided we’d go ahead & take off for Moscow, ID as planned and attempt to get it fixed there.   He took the three girls out for an afternoon of fun at Faragut State Park and I had a few peaceful hours with Jake.   Faragut State Park used to be a Navy base during WWII, and is a place we would like to camp the next time we return to the area. 

Swimming in the chilly lake            .

Gorgeous Lake Pend Orielle (pronounced Ponderay)         .