Coeur D'Alene/Spokane

Yesterday we took a day-trip to Spokane, about a 2 hr drive, and then went to Coeur D'Alene as well. We REALLY like the area! It's beautiful, with the mountains that Thad loves, with beautiful pine trees, which I love, and all 4 seasons, without too much rain, which we both appreciate! We are looking into internship possibilities for Thad there next summer, so we'll see. And we absolutely LOVED Coeur D'Alene! It was gorgeous. It feels like more of a resort town, but trendy, funky, and somehow still down-to-earth. The best part? Lake Coeur D'Alene, right downtown! It is absolutely beautiful! With dense pine trees all around the edges, except for the beach area right down town that everyone plays on. There's even a little tide and waves that come on shore. It was hard getting Siena to leave! Another bonus: right by the beach, there is a fabulous big part where they happened to be holding a childrens fair as we were passing through, and gave Siena a free lunch!
Then we checked out Spokane. We thought it would be about an hour drive from Coeur D'Alene, but it was really only about 20 minutes. We went to a park there, where we caught the Skyride tram over Spokane Falls. This was a bit of a let down, considering the ride was $15, only about 250 yards long, and lasted about 20 minutes, mostly because of the long stops letting people on and off. Also, I guess any waterfall after seeing Iguassu is a bit of a letdown, but we enjoyed ourselves all the same, with a huge dragonblood flavored shave ice (Thad's favorite).
We also found the Garbage Goat, a goat sculpture with a vacuum attached to the mouth that sucks up all the garbage you put in there. Honestly, the vacuum kinda freaked Siena out, but it was a fun idea! Then we checked out Gonzaga University (I wanted to write Gorgonzola for some reason...), and headed home. We are already planning a trip back to the area to check out more of Spokane, and enjoy more of Coeur D'Alene as well. We can really see ourselves living there someday!