Advertisement
It has been 5 months since we blogged last. We arrived back in the US on December 5th and now it is already May 5th. We have grown so much over the past 5 months and really needed a little getaway just the 2 of us. So we headed out for a 5 day/4night escape to Eastern Oregon, Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.
I have had a long time goal of seeing all 50 states by the time I turned 30 but realized when we moved to China in 2009 that I probably wouldn't hit that goal. It is OK though as goals are not meant to be set in stone, they need to change and be able to work with our lifestyles. So instead when I hit 30, I visited my 37th state of Idaho. I have been blessed to see 37 states plus Washington DC along with 24 countries in my 30 years.
Later in the summer Pete and I will also travel to Massachusetts, New Hampshire and possibly Vermont or Maine depending on our time in New England. One of our "Couple Friends" Jimmy & Cali who we meant in China are getting married in Sugar
Hill, New Hampshire, so we will have the pleasure of celebrating their wedding with them on August 20th. We have another wedding to celebrate on August 13th with Jared & Kendra in Truckee, CA (Tahoe area), he made our dessert bar at our wedding last year and is a childhood friend of Pete's.
Not only in August do we get to attend 2 weddings we will be returning to China to teach another year but at a new school. We will be in Hangzhou again, but will be living in the heart of the city, which we have been trying to do for the past 2 school years. Our contracts begin Sept 1st and end June 30, 2012 so for those of you who wish to see China please come visit us we are becoming quite the experts on traveling. Since signing our contracts early last week we have already begun to plan our holidays with what countries we will visit. October 1 week holiday most likely Bali, Indonesia; Chinese New Year 5-6 weeks in Malaysia, Singapore, India and Northern Thailand. Then at the completion of our contract either Europe or South America before returning back to Portland.
So back to my birthday celebration. After I worked on Wednesday morning, we headed out on a 3.5 hr drive from Portland, OR to Pendleton, OR which is straight east along the Columbia River Gorge I-84 corridor. We broke up the 6-7 hour drive to Coeur d'Alene by staying 1 night in Pendleton, OR (famous for the Pendleton Roundup Rodeo). We stopped at the Bonneville Dam to get out and stretch, use the restrooms and see the sights. After our quick stop we then continued on to Pendleton where we went to Wildhorse Casino & Resort, an Indian Casino, to have some drinks, dinner and gamble a little bit.
If the casino would have had Roulette I would have put $20 on #5 for the following reasons: 5 months since we blogged and arrived back in the US, 5 years since I have kept off my original 30 lbs lost on Weight Watchers, 5th grandchild born on the 5th day of the 5th month (also my maternal grandparents wedding anniversary) and this month I met Pete 5 years ago (May 20th). But no luck for me as there was no Roulette at the casino, but we still had a
good time. I lost $5 on nickel slots and Pete was up on his Blackjack hands, not enough to cover our dinner and drinks but we had a great start to our weekend getaway.
The next morning, May 5th, we got up and had waffles in the hotel lobby and headed out toward Coeur d'Alene. We decided we would take the back roads or 2 lane highways instead of the interstate to get more of a scenic drive and feel for this part of the US.
From Pendleton we drove through Milton-Freewater, OR crossed into Washington through Walla Walla, drove US-12 through Dayton, WA-127Colfax and stopped to have lunch at a little tiny diner called Top Notch Cafe. We then took another side route WA-272 from there which lead us straight into Idaho. I stopped the car so Pete could take my photo at the state line. We continued on to US-95 which took us straight north to Coeur d'Alene, ID. I was in awww the whole 5 hrs that morning/early afternoon as we drove through so many small towns, drove over the Snake River, saw wind farms being constructed and many fields, farms and rolling hills. Beautiful
On the road again
Near Dayton, WA in Southeastern WAcountryside to travel if you ever get the chance.
When I moved to the Northwest 5 months ago I had never heard of Coeur d'Alene, ID but soon found out it is quite the chic little resort getaway. We checked into our Bed & Breakfast, Greenbriar Inn, then walked around the downtown/lake area. We ate dinner at the B&B which had a great Cinco de Mayo dinner including a margarita and 7 tastings of tequila. We had a great time with the other 4 people at our table and I actually "won" four tickets to the Seattle Mariners vs. NY Yankees game on Sat. May 27th.
They had drawn 2 peoples names and they couldn't go as it is a 6 hour drive from Coeur d'Alene to Seattle. After the 2 people rejected the tickets, I said "We live in Portland and it is my 30th birthday" the room of 50-60 people starting cheering and said "give her the tickets" so I got the tickets and took a photo with the gentleman who 1st won the tickets who was sitting at our table. A retired navy man with 34 yrs of service mostly in San Diego, small world.
We will be driving to Seattle and taking Raphael and Marieka, who live in Seattle, to the game over Memorial Day weekend.
At our table of 6, there was a man who had lost his wife to breast cancer a few years ago, a school teacher who lost her son last year to a car accident, the retired navy man who lived in San Diego and then us who linked to all of them by living in San Diego, losing a loved one and cancer. It really is a small world after all. Needless to say we had a great evening.
We woke the next morning, went for a run around the lake/park then returned to the B&B where Pete set the table with our breakfast that was provided with our room. After checking out we went for a little walk around the downtown to buy a magnet of Idaho and then went on a hike along the lake. We had some time to kill before driving 35 miles to Spokane, WA to meet up with Staci & Martin, a couple we also met in China our 1st year teaching. Staci is attending graduate school at Eastern Washington
University, they moved to Spokane in August 2010 after returning from China.
On our drive along I-90, yep all the way in the western part of the US, we stopped at Cabela's as it was right along the interstate and Pete had never been to one. Mat, Chase and Hunter will be so proud now that Pete has experienced the store. We spent 40 minutes in the store looking around at all the departments, fish tanks and animal displays. I bought a big backpack for Asia as it was an amazing price and Pete got a new hat.
That concludes our stay in Idaho. I will definitely return when we get a chance someday.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 11; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0636s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mom
non-member comment
Great to have the blog back....
Great to see the pictures and read your blog again! Keep up the excellent work!