ID, WA – Jul 2025

Imagine if you will, some 13,000 years ago, what you see today as represented above would have actually looked like this here on the right.  It would have been the largest water fall in the world.  But alas, time has changed, and what is left is a mostly dry ravine that once held a mighty flow of raging water.  There was lots to see and do during this leg of my journey as I explore upper Idaho, and begin my venture into Washington state.  So let’s get to all the entertaining details.

Coeur d’Alene, ID

While I did cover a large part of Idaho last year, I hadn’t travelled through the far upper northern portion of the state.   I had heard that Coeur d’Alene (also known as CDA) was a really cool town, so I coordinated this year’s trip to take me through this area.  And, I’m glad I did!  I had booked a week long stay here, so it gave me an opportunity to slow down a bit and really check out the area.  While researching things to see and do, I discovered there was a Segway tour option that would allow me to have a guided tour while seeing a large portion of the town with relative ease and a bit of fun.  It would have been more fun if my brother Gerry was here with me to go on this tour (he says tongue in cheek).  Anyway, I arrived at the designated starting point and noticed that there were a pair of Segways already sitting out.  So, in my mind, this either meant that there were only going to be two of us tourists on this trip, or better yet, one was for me and the other for the tour guide meaning I was going to get a one-on-one personal tour.  Fortunately for me, it was the latter.  So after telling my guide Lucy that I’ve been on several Segway city tours including Austin, Washington DC, Chattanooga, Charleston, Disney’s Fort Wilderness, Gettysburg, and Savanah to name a few, it was a mere few minutes tooling around the parking lot getting my Segway legs back and demonstrating to her I could ride one of these things without killing myself, and off we went.  It was a two hour tour, covering probably 15 to 20 miles around town, while Lucy filled me in on all the CDA history and charm.  At one stop at the waterfront, she pointed out the small island out in the water (at left, bottom left) which was actually a green to the golf course.  The 14th hole of the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course has this movable, floating green that sits out in the middle of Coeur d’Alene Lake.  After tee-off, a boat shuttles you out to the green for putting – that is assuming anyone in your group actually hits the green.  A bit pricey to play here at close to $300 a round, though it does include a required personal caddy.  Nah, I think I’ll stick to put-put golf.

Our Segway tour took us through many parts of CDA, including the ritzy mega-bucks waterfront housing area – which did have some really nice homes.  We also visited the beautiful downtown McEuen Park with trails and lots of fun stuff for the kids, and also the remnants of Fort Sherman, which operated from 1878-1900.  Much of what is left from what was the fort is now North Idaho College.  You’ll notice in the one picture (at right, top right) that the flag is flying at half mast.  You might have heard the news story of two CDA firefighters that were lured to a brush fire up in a mountain, only to have been murdered by a crazy lone gunman.  This had just happened on June 30th – just slightly over a week before I arrived.  In fact, the day I was out on the Segway tour was the day they were having the funerals for the two firefighters.  Such a sad and tragic event.

We also visited a really cool carrousel where we took a Segway break, and went inside to cool down a bit and to get a closer look.  While we were standing around admiring the ride, the carrousel operator came over to us and asked if we wanted a free ride.  She needed to use us so that she could adequately balance the weight of the ride – evenly spreading out Lucy and I along with the small number of paying customers.  So, that we did!  It was a fun ride, and I was handed a number of plastic rings as I went around that I needed to toss into a bucket that was on the other side.  While I didn’t keep an actual count, from the 20 or so that I tossed, I’m pretty sure I only missed one.  Not bad!  Last we visited a really nice memorial that features three waterfalls representing “Respect”, “Honor”, and “Remember” that was created to honor Sgt Greg Moore who, back in 2015, became the first CDA officer killed while in the line of duty.  His call sign was K27, which is featured in this memorial as well as all over town to serve as a reminder to the sacrifice he made.  It was a beautiful and very reflective memorial.

The next day I decided to take a down day and do something I’ve not done in quite a while.  $13 for the admission ticket, $29 for a large drink, popcorn, and single box of candy, and practically having the entire theater to myself on openning day of the new Superman movie – Priceless!  While there were actually a few folks that wandered in after I had taken this picture, the total occupancy at this showing remained in single digits.  It was a Friday early afternoon, so I imagine most folks were at work.  At least I hope so – otherwise, the future of these big screen movie theaters is certainly in jeopardy.  Despite some of the critical comments that I’ve seen in the media regarding this movie, I actually found it to be quite enjoyable.  Certainly much better than some of the other Superman movies that were total disasters (e.g. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice).  So if you have the opportunity to get out and see it, I would definitely recommend doing so.

Now back to some playing tourist.  The next day I ventured off to the west a bit to do some sightseeing in Spokane, WA.  There were a number of interesting Roadside treasures to check out.  First up, was this milk bottle building.  What was once part of the Benewah Dairy Company, this is one of two surviving Spokane milk bottle buildings.  Today its simply called The Milk Bottle, and is a cafe/restaurant.  Next, I drove out to the Spokane Riverside Park Wastewater Treatment Plant to see this cool and touching memorial (at right, top left).  It features the likeness of Mike Cmos Jr. doing what he loved most – fishing.  Tragically in 2004, maintenance man Cmos was looking into an issue with a digester tank that was malfunctioning.  He climbed atop the 40-foot tall tank when its roof collapsed, dropping him into the tank with millions of gallons of sludge.   Sadly, he was found two days later resting near the bottom.  The collapse also let loose some 200,000 gallons of sewage in the local area including into the nearby Spokane River.  It was quite a mess and such a tragic story and such an awful way to die.  May he rest in eternal peace!  Next I visited a Spokane fire department to see this 9/11 memorial (at right, bottom right).  It was a nice piece with sillouettes of firefighters in front of a steel flag.  Nicely done!  Last up was a visit to a private residence that featured a number of metal art pieces throughout their yard.  This included a number of pieces made from scrap steel and truck car parts formed into various pieces of art.  Some were even functional including some planters for some flowers and also a fountain.  There was also a really cool steel door at the side entrance to the property.  Pretty talented fabricator!

Next, I stopped in downtown Spokane to walk around Riverfront Park.  There was lots to see here, and many entries on Roadside America.  As I first walked into the area, I was greated by Spokane Falls that is fed from the Spokane River (at left, top).  It was very beautiful to watch.  Next, I ventured into a sculpture park where a number of various art pieces, made by various artists, are featured.  There is also a large brick building belonging to Washington Water Power – no doubt extracting hydro power from the Spokane River.

From the Roadside list comes these featured finds here in the park.  This massively large Radio Flyer red wagon has a staircase on one side to get into the wagon, while the handle on the other side doubles as a slide for an easy exit.  Then there is this garbage goat – not only an art piece but an actual functional keep the area clean contributor.  Kids all over were having a great time “feeding” the goat a variety of trash including plastic bottles, paper, and even leaves from the area.  This goat has a vacuum for a mouth and eagerly consumes most anything you want to feed it.  What a great way to keep the park clean!  Next up was this 100+ year old 1909 Looff carrousel inside a beautifully built round house.  There was a time when the carrousel was located in a park that had closed, was no longer being maintained, and was at big risk of being sold off and taken to another community.  But it would be Bill Fearn who was the Director of Park & Recs from 1965-79 who would fight to save the carrousel that had been a local landmark for children since it was originally built and delivered to Spokane in 1909.  He started the campaign to save the merry-go-round and raised enough money to not only restore and relocate the carrousel, but to also build this magnificent building in which it now resides.  He obviously had the vision and means to pull off this amazing save.

Not only did Bill Fearn save the carrousel, he was also instramental in acquiring and developing hundreds of acres of land into community parks – including this one which would be known as Riverfront Park, and home to Expo ’74.   Spokane was the smallest city to ever host a world’s fair.  This park features a number of amazing structures and artifacts that truly make it a top tier park.  First up was the Great Northern Clock Tower – that was built in 1902 and stood as part of a railway yard that once occupied the area.  As the use of the railway yard diminished, the clock tower was slated to be demolished at some point in the late 1960s to early 1970s, but the 1972 efforts to save it were successful allowing it to be a focal point to the 1974 World Exposition.  The Rotary Fountain (at left, center right) sits at the entrence to Riverfront Park from West Spokane Falls Blvd, and is a fun and functional fountain that had both small and big kids (aka adults) darting in and out of the cool squirting water on a warm summer day.  It was dedicated in 2005 – many years after the expo.  Lastly, this amazing structure known back then as the USA Pavilion, now known as the Spokane Pavilion (at left, bottom right) was built specifically for Expo ’74, and continues to serve the community with a beautiful amphitheater for concerts and other live venues with seating for up to 5,000 attendees. It originally had a covering forming a tent-like structure, with trees and other natural elements around.  During the fair, it also featured the first ever IMAX movie titled “Man Belongs to the Earth”.  The film featured fast fly-by scenes including over the Grand Canyon, whose realism was so great, it necessitated the use of barf-bags to those suffering from motion sickness (that would be me).   The venue still has its IMAX screen and regularly features movie nights, while in the winter time, the venue serves as a skating arena.  The town’s repurposing of what was once a depressed rail yard into a beautiful park for the world expo, and so well maintained today some 50+ years later as a beautiful community park, is most noteworthy.  Well done Spokane!

Next, I visited the childhood home of Bing Crosby.  Born Harry Lillis Crosby Jr. on May 3, 1903 in Tacoma, WA, his family relocated here to Spoke three years later where he would spend the bulk of his growing up years.  This house (at right, top) was built by his father in 1913, and sits within the campus grounds of Bing’s alma mater – Gonzaga University.  Today, the house serves as a museum of Bing’s life, and features a number of artifacts from his career as a singer, comedian, entertainer, and actor.  Some of the more notable artifacts include his one and only Academy Award – won for Best Actor playing the role of Father Chuck O’Malley in the film Going My Way.  Also present was this flag that came from the 17th hole on a golf course in Spain, and was supposedly where Bing had a heart attack and died.  Other accounts of that day show him as having completing the full 18 hole round, and suffering the heart attach shortly thereafter on the way into the clubhouse for a celebratory drink.  Oh well, I guess it’s a good story either way as he passed doing something he enjoyed.

While I was there, I decided to walk a bit around the Gonzaga campus.  I had heard of this university before – likely in sports references related to their basketball participation in March Madness.  But, I had no other knowledge of the school, including even where it was located.  So since I was here, I might as well take a look around.  It was a beautiful campus with a seemingly very long history.  The one main building noted it was founded in 1887, while the actual building was constructed in 1898.  That’s over 135 years of collegiate services.  The back of one of the buildings features a really beautiful grotto and garden area – located between College Hall and St. Aloysius Church, it was created to be an outdoor meditative space.  It truly was beautiful.

On my way back to Idaho from Spokane, I stopped in to a place called Wake Up Call.  Besides being a coffee and snack shop, it is also featured in Roadside for having a building design that incorporates a giant British style phone booth.  Since it was mid afternoon when I arrived, I took the opportunity to not only snap a few pictures, but I also availed myself to a cup of mocha latte and a big slice of banana bread.  Yummy!  To complete the whole telephone theme design, there was even a working, somewhat vintage pay telephone inside.  Next, I travelled almost an hour back towards the east, and about 25 miles to the north to checkout this water tower turned teapot.  I know, it was a long way to go to to see a silly teapot, but this was one of the Roadside entries that did not have any pictures.  For those, I tend to make an extra effort to go and see so that I can take and submit some pics so that I contribute back.  Anyway, it was a cool looking tower, and now Roadside will have a picture of it.

Last up, and just about 15 miles to the east from the teapot tower in Athol, ID, was a visit to the Brig Museum located at what was once the Farragut Naval Training Station.  The training center operated from Sep 1942, until it was decommissioned in Jun 1946.  During that time, upwards of 300,000 sailors received their basic training here making it the second-largest training center in the world.  In 1945, the US Army also used the facility as a German POW camp – housing some 900 prisoners captured after D-Day who performed maintenance and other manual labor activities. In 1966, the site became Farragut State Park.  The base was named after David Farragut, the first admiral in the U.S. Navy and the leading naval officer during the Civil War.  Admiral Farragut was also best known for his widely popular phrase “Damn the torpedoes – full speed ahead”.  The museum had a nice collection of time period specific artifacts, and lots of history.  Besides the naval portions of the museum, there was also a room dedicated to scouting.  The state park has a long history with scouting as in 1967, the site played host to the 12th World Boy Scout Jamboree that brought 17,000 Scouts from 105 countries here to Farragut.  This roughly every 4 year event which began in 1920 was the first world Jamboree ever held in the U.S., with the second and only other one held here in the U.S. in 2019 (in West VA).  Also, in 1969, the park hosted over 42,000 scouts for the largest National Boy Scout Jamboree ever held in the U.S. So, there’s quite the synergy between Farragut State Park and the BSA.

Farragut State Park sits on the south western edge of Lake Pend Oreille.  Since I was already in the state park, and having already paid my $14 day use admission fee, I figured I’d at least check out the lake.  It was absolutely beautiful!  The lake was very rough on this day with lots of flow and white caps – certainly not suitable for swimming or boating.  There was, however, a protected cove area that serves as a beach and safe harbor swimming area for park attendees.  It was really nice!  Also, despite the training center having long since been closed, the Navy has maintained a presence here on Lake Pend Oreille.  With the deep (1,150 feet) waters of the lake, scaled-down prototypes of submarines are tested in an ocean-like environment as part of the Naval Surface Warfare Center.  So who knows – maybe in some of the beautiful pictures I took, there are mini submarines lurking in the waters below.

Warden, WA

My first official stop in the state of Washington takes me to the booming town of Warden – with all its 2,500 residents.  As you might have guessed, there wasn’t much to see here in this town other than lots of farms.  But, I wasn’t far from a few interesting towns to the north where I would spend the better part of a couple days exploring.

I travelled some 60 miles to the north to Coulee City to visit Dry Falls.  The story of Dry Falls goes something like this.  Some 20,000 years ago during the glacial period, large ice sheets blocked the natural flow of waters along the Columbia River, and a series of events caused major flooding and the redirection of water.  That flood water traveled here, plummeting down over 400 feet creating this coulee. It is estimated that the resulting falls were five times the width of Niagara Falls, with ten times the flow of all the current rivers in the world combined – making it what would have been the largest falls in the world.  Today, it’s a big hole in the ground with some water, surrounded by hundreds of feet of sheer cliffs.  Certainly is pretty though!

As an aside, you might recognize the name “Coulee”, which by definition means a deep ravine.  But I also recognized it from Coulee Dam.  While that famous dam is actually here in western Washington, sadly it was over an hour even further north than I had already travelled, so I decided to skip it on this trip.  Maybe next time.

Next, I worked my way back to the south, stopping in the town of Soap Lake.  Here there were a few interesting Roadside attractions.  First among them was this giant lifesize human-like sundial.  Titled “Calling the Healing Waters”, it was unveiled in June 2009 and was sculpted by artist David Govedare.  It proclaims to be the world’s first human figure sundial, and the largest human figure sundial in existence.  The giant wing protruding from the avian humanoid’s back serves as the pointer casting the shadow from which the time is derived.  I found the time was off by about an hour – suggesting this sundial has not been adjusted for daylight savings time.  Really a beautifully done sculpture.  Next, in a yard at a private residence was this robot looking thing holding a rocket.  Writing on the rocket directs you to a community website with information and events about the local community.  Pretty cool!

The last place I visited in Soap Lake was this interesting find.  Lava Links is a par 3, 9-hole executive pitch and put golf course with an interesting twist.  There is absolutely not a single blade of grass to be found anywhere.  This “rustic” course features tee boxes of dirt and rocks, the fairways not much better, the rough is filled with sagebrush, more rocks, and other desert vegetation, and the greens are called grays and made up of sand.  The good news is that you don’t need a tee time, there is no staff and no waiting, and it’s free to play.  They do recommend however, that you use throw-away clubs that can be purchased at a thrift store.  Definitely a unique activity for this little lakeside town.  Golf anyone?

Last up on my trek back south towards home was a stop in Moses Lake.  This is a fairly large city, with a population exceeding 22,000.  There’s lots of history in this town, so I figured a trip to their little regional museum would be a great place to learn about some of it.  A few things that I did learn was that petrified wood was Washington’s official state gem, and is apparently fairly plentiful in areas such as the Ginkgo Petrified Forest about an hour west of here. The other thing I found interesting in the museum were these jars of volcanic ash from the 1980 Mount St. Hellens eruption.  Apparently, souvenirs of the ash became a collectible thing and a source of revenue for the towns that were covered in it.  Too funny!  I also learned that there was once an Air Force Base here in Moses Lake.  It was activated in 1942 as a temporary World War II training center for P-38 Lightning fighter pilots, then later bomber training in the B-17 Flying Fortress.  Today, it is the Grant County International Airport.  Also with its massive runways, it served for decades as a commercial training center for large Boeing aircraft pilots.

In addition to its original military training mission, its other primary mission was to protect the nearby secret Hanford Atomic Works and the Grand Coulee Dam.  I was actually planning to visit the Hanford site, which was a nuclear plant created in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project.  It produced plutonium that was used in the first atomic bomb, and later used in Fat Man that was dropped on Nagasaki.  The site was decommissioned in 1966, and continues its ongoing cleanup and radiation mitigation.  Interestingly, I discovered that the Department of Energy conducts tours of the B Reactor.  I would have loved to have seen this, but unfortunately, I later learned that reactor tours have been suspended for 2025 due to some sort of major construction projects going on.  Guess I’ll have to keep this on my bucket list for another time.  In the meantime, there is a pretty cool virtual tour of the complex that you can see HERE.

The other things I accomplished while here in Warden was to get a couple of planned preventative maintenance items taken care of.  My RV was filthy and in great need of a wash.  Usually, campgrounds do not allow you to do any washing while staying with them.  But, occasionally there will be those places that do allow it, and even better, there are these energetic entrepreneurs who travel around to local campgrounds offering cleaning services.  It was funny that as I was getting setup here in Warden, I happened to be thinking that I wished there was a mobile RV cleaning guy around that could take care of my RV.  Minutes later, seemingly out of nowhere, a guy walks over to me and hands me his card with those exact services listed.  I got a quick quote from him to do a cleaning of my RV, and immediately hired him for the job.  Here are some before and after pics.  He did a terrific job, and even did my truck as a bonus!  So now I won’t be so embarrassed pulling into campgrounds going forward with my dirty disgusting RV.

Being the true spirited entrepreneur that this guy was, he also happened to take a picture of my roof after he cleaned it.  He showed me the picture and suggested it was in dire need of a sealant coating.  I was actually already aware of that need, and had made plans to drop off my RV at a local service center when I returned home to FL in the fall.  I would then spend a few days with one of my brothers while the RV roof would be cleaned and sealed.  Well, turns out this guy can do the sealing also.  Since the roof was freshly cleaned, I need only a couple more days here that would allow for the application of two coats of the sealant.  I was scheduled to be here for four more days, so I got a quote from him to do the work.  It turned out to be less than half of what the RV service center was going to charge me.  So, I figured getting it done now would safe me money, and save me from having to give up my RV for several days when I returned home to Florida.  So, I gave him the job, and after a couple days of putting on the sealant, I now have a virtually clean, shinny, and heat reflective roof.  Again, you can see the before and after pictures here.  He really did a great job!

Final Thoughts

Well, I’ve made my way to Washington – the starting point of this year’s travel focus areas.  Despite only having been through a couple of stops since my last blog, I figured this edition was long enough to go ahead and publish.  I’ve got a few more stops here in other parts of WA before I reach my extended stay in the Bothell/Seattle area where I will meet up with my brother Gerry, my nephew Eric, and my cousin Marie.  Also, there is tons to see and do in the coming weeks, so I may as well save that for a future blog.  I’m pleased that the only maintenance costs I’ve incured during this leg were all totally elective, and were for things I was going to do and pay for anyway.  And, I managed to save a few bucks along the way. So, that’s a good thing.  Let’s hope things stay that way for some time.  Until next time, be well and safe travels.

I only show a sampling of my adventure pictures here in the blog, and do so mostly in collage format for brevity and ease of reading. If you want to view an album containing individual full fidelity and hi-res images of all my travel pictures related to this specific blog, click the image below. Enjoy!