Coeur D'Alene - Independence Day

With only a few days to go until 4th July, we left Yellowstone satisfied that we had been lucky in having great weather and seeing both grizzly and black bears.  We set off heading west again with no fixed idea of where we would be for the all important Independence Day celebrations.  With large towns few and far between we thought we would head towards Spokane, WA,  which is a fairly large town.

When the morning of the 4th arrived we set off for a few hours drive to our destination, but just a few miles short of Spokane we spotted a beautiful  lake and signs for the town of Coeur d'Alene. We were both suddenly intrigued with both the romantic name and stunning views from the highway so we decided to take a sudden detour down the exit slip to have a closer look...and we are so glad we did :)

As we entered the town at approx 2pm it became clear that we were in the midst of some sort of parade as a lot of the main roads through the town we closed and we were diverted out into the suburbs.  Unexpected road closures and restrictions are never good to deal with in a vehicle this size, but fortunately we eventually found ourselves in the car park of the town hall.

A steward was manning the entrance and explained they we charging $15 for parking for the day, but we could also stay overnight if we wished.  It also turned out that we were very close to the city park which was located on the lake front where all the action was going on-  live music, loads of food stalls, crowds of people lining the streets, beach absolutely packed with people having BBQs, swimming, sunbathing, water-sports,  american flags hanging from all the townhouses and fantastic weather!  It definitely had a young college town feel as the vast majority of people were in their late teens/early 20s, along with a number of young families.

We had packed a "picnic" consisting of a few beers for Adam and vodka cokes for me. As we settled on our blanket in the park for some fun, sun and celebrations, we noticed that no-one else was drinking.  Then we then we noticed the distinct lack of beer-tents where we had expected to see them amongst the food stalls around the perimeter of the park.  Then we saw a sign prohibiting alcohol in all public areas such as the city park and the beach!  Cops were patrolling to ensure everyone was obeying the rules, so we did the decent thing and transferred the alcohol to empty coke cans when no-one was looking, and drank from them the rest of the day like naughty teenagers!

Later that afternoon, after our boozy picnic and having sampled food from several of the stalls, we set off exploring the lakefront which was teeming with people.  Hardly a speck of sand was unoccupied!  Across the road from the pine tree shaded sandy beach of the lake were some absolutely fantastic houses.  Many of them were very contemporary in design with lots of glass and balconies, and verandas with spectacular views of the lake.  Most houses were having their own private parties in their front gardens.  The delicious smell of BBQ foods and smoke filled the air and these lucky people were happily sipping pimms and drinking beers!  We seriously wanted an invite and almost considered trying our luck at gatecrashing; but everyone still seemed sober enough to notice a few extras.  Shame!

 We had somehow found out that there was going to be fireworks at 9pm so we stuck around till dusk and as we sat on a rocky pier a young crowd gathered, waiting for the climax of the day.  The air was still warm after the scorching day and many people were still chillin' in the very chilly lake!  As the crowd grew impatient, someone started hurling hand fireworks into the water where they exploded with a surprisingly loud bang!  This quickly attracted the attention of the cops who appeared and admonished the culprits - much to the dislike of the entertained crowd.

Finally, fireworks began to fill the perfectly still evening sky.  Simultaneously a roaring cheer from the crowd erupted, followed by the enthusiastic chanting of "U.S.A!  U.S.A!  U.S.A!".  Very patriotic!  Strange in a way, celebrating another country's independence from your own country.  We must have done a good job fitting in as no-one accused us of being spies for the Queen...

We liked the feel of the town so much that we stayed a further 2 nights enjoying the cosmopolitan restaurants, bars and cafes.  We also had to follow the lead of the college students and take a dip in the beautiful clear waters of the lake.  It was bone numbingly cold and neither of us could bear it for more than a few minutes even on a scorching day.  We also took our bikes out on a beautiful sunny 20 mile ride around one side of the vast turquoise lake.  After all the hills our legs were like jelly when we got back!

We were actually sad to leave, but felt we had outstayed our welcome when we got a call from a couple of police officers informing us one of the local neighbours had complained about the noise from our generator.  We had maybe run it for an hour a day tops.  This was rather ironic considering we hardly got any sleep all weekend due to all the fireworks being set off in the locals gardens till the early hours of the morning!  To be fair the policeman seemed to be apologetic for calling and even said that the complaint came from someone who complains about everything, but he had to do his job and speak to us about it.  We were still in the town hall car park at that point but he did not seem to be concerned with that at all.  We were planning a move then anyhow so no big deal, just annoying that it ended on a sour note.