Coeur d'Alene Idaho and more!!! WARNING-Photo over load ahead

About 13 months ago my dear hubby booked us a condo at Coeur d'Alene lake and am I ever glad he did! It was one of the most fun trips we have had in a long time. (even though we envisioned it differently since it sleeps 8 and only 4 of us went) We are so glad it worked out that way!

We began our adventure at about 2 pm Sunday the 15th. Since it is over 600 miles to the Lake we stopped in Butte Montana for the first night and continued on first thing in the morning. I have never been to Butte so I was a little shocked to see the Virgin Mary statue towering over the town, in fact at night we thought it was just a bright light shining on the cliffs. The following morning we figured it out but I came home and researched why it is there.
Local resident Bob O'Bill in 1979 found out his wife was seriously ill with cancer. He promised the Virgin Mary that he would make a 9 foot statue of her in his yard if his wife recovered. When she recovered he began the project with his fellow workers who gradually changed the initial vision to a mountain top statue nearly the size of the Statue of Liberty (151 feet). Many people in Butte donated materials and time to make the statue a reality to honor women everywhere, especially mothers. The base is 8,510 feet above sea level and 3,500 feet above the town. The statue is lit and visible at night. Pretty cool, Huh? I think so!


The next afternoon we arrived at this beautiful lake! Have you ever seen something so gorgeous in your life?

This is the condo we stayed in. Notice the pretty green grass right up to the water! Ours was the corner condo, first floor on the far left with a corner veranda that was to die for!

This is Ben and his friend Matt just chillin' in the boat at the dock we left our boat at each night the whole week!






This is the city of Coeur d'Alene and it has the longest boardwalk on the water in the States.

Ben and Matt got to be good Samaritans on the board walk by carrying two baby strollers with littles on board up many steps to the bridge. Way to go guys!!











Just some random pictures as we went up the Spokane River in the boat.

This is Ben skiing on the Spokane River in memory of his serving his mission in the Washington Spokane Mission.



Posers!!!

The rivers here lead to other lakes along the way and are deep enough to boat and ski on. The water was so smooth we couldn't resist skiing here. One straight line as far as you wanted to go, HEAVEN!!!

Ben is pretty good, huh? He learned it all from his Mom!! Lol!

This is a picture I had Ben take of us on our Anniversary from our veranda over looking the lake. 34 years! Man where has the time gone!!

This day we had planned to visit Spokane and Othello, 2 places Ben served on his mission. We had an absolute blast! It was so exciting to see place and people your son spent part of 2 years with while you were home holding down the homestead.


Our first stop was the temple! Love it! We will need to go back one day and go inside since we had people to see and places to be. Here are sites around Spokane.

Look what Scott found and wanted to bring home! The DOG people, not the girl! Notice how I chopped her head off, that wasn't on purpose really!!!

After leaving Spokane this is what you see everywhere. Field and fields and more fields!

After about 2 hours we ended up in Othello, Washington. The population was 5,847 at the 2000 census, but Ben had his greatest successes here with these humble people. Just a reminder Ben taught Spanish speaking people on his mission and they are such wonderful kind people here in Othello.

We were able to meet a family that the missionaries live with but unfortunately I forgot to get their picture. It is so generous and kind to allow these young men to live in your home and I am most grateful!

One family in particular we got to meet is the Alva's. They are members from the ward that Ben served in and became his very good friends. Sister Alva fed us the most amazing and delicious dinner!!! They have the most adorable 2 little boys and we loved being in their home. By the way their English is getting better and better!!!

We next met a darling little family the Pineda's that speak only Spanish but they were gracious enough to let us barge into their home for a few minutes and take their pictures too. Ben loves this family so we do too. The little boy is named Nefi (Nephi), so cute.

What a fun day!

Then back to the Lake for a day with more boating and fun, especially watching Ben and Matt perfect their wake boarding skills!


This is the home along the lake that we might buy for ours selves one day, after the first million!!! Tempting, huh?

That was the biggest surprise to me on this trip, so many house built along the shores and that their are a lot of rich, really rich people in the world too.

Our family is rich in what really matters, children that are kind hearted and in vacations like these!!