Coeur d'Alene

Ah beautiful Coeur d"Alene!  We arrived during a drizzling rain and an unseasonable cold snap.  The thermometer should have read 75-80 degrees, but instead it only had been in the high 50s for days.  According to local weather forecasts, it would continue to be stuck there for a while.  I overheard a local man ask a sales clerk, "Well, did you enjoy your summer?"  He was joking about the brief warm spell they had had a week ago.  Enough about the weather, what is it about this wonderful place that makes me like it so?

    The lake, the marina, the many shops, the shoreline park, the high-rise condominiums, and the downtown work together perfectly to make this a great destination.  There had been a few changes since our first trip fifteen years earlier.  I guess it's inevitable that strip malls have to be built when a city grows.  But Coeur d'Alene has done a pretty good job of keeping theirs to a minimum.

    We strolled through the pleasant downtown and the nearby city park situated at water's edge. Nearby, dominating the waterfront, is the very posh, eighteen story resort simply called Coeur d'Alene Resort.  Linda remarked that the modern interior reminded her of a Las Vegas casino, without the slots.  People were gathered around a huge wood-burning fireplace while others window-shopped at the several boutiques.  Outside, the resort’s marina was filled with speedboats of every description.  Blue canopies cover each slip adding nicely to the ambience.  We strolled the pier and watched a seaplane land and then take off again.  I’ve got to hand it to the pilot; from what I understand landing on water can be tricky.  This guy made it look easy.  Two young boys were swimming in the lake.  "Egad! Don't they know it's cold?"  Then I remembered my own youth.  At that age when you feel like swimming, and there's no one around to say, "Don't you dare, you'll catch pneumonia," you swim.  Cause and effect is something a young swimmer doesn’t worry about.

    We took a trip around the northern part of the lake in one of the tour boats.  There were some really nice summer homes on the western shore.  In one section, the owners chose to have no roads, so the only way in is by boat, not bad if you ask me.

    So what does Coeur d'Alene mean?  You just knew I would eventually have to tell you, didn't you?  It is of course French.  The early trappers who traded with the local Indians found the tribe to be sharp, hard hearted traders.  "They have pointed hearts the size of an awl's point," the trappers declared.  So instead of calling the Indians by their rightful name, which was Schee-Chu-Umsh, they called them Coeur d'Alene, "heart of an awl."  The name stuck and there you have it.

    I think Coeur d’Alene is almost perfect, not too big, not too small, about 34,000 people, enough to have a decent infrastructure.  And then there’s the waterfront setting, snow, forests all around, beautiful scenery and a really nice downtown.  How could anyone ask for anything more?

Q