Day 9: A River Runs Through It

Day 9 started early for me..

Sunrise over Rock Creek

flyfishing on Rock Creek (Mile 1815), a tributary of the Clark Fork, the 'river' from "A River Runs Through It".  Lots of wildlife, and a cute little trout were my reward for rising early and braving the 60 degree waters.
Kate, more sensibly, chose to sleep in and have a nice breakfast.

These crawfish were everywhere

Cute little cutthroat trout

I ran back to the hotel so we could meet up with our whitewater rafting expedition.

Mile 1856:  'Whitewater' rafting on the Clark Fork

We were pretty excited to go rafting.  The only trip available was a full day trip, so we were primed for some adventure.  The trip turned out to be long, windy and cold, and not all that whitewatery.  Kate took the brunt of most of the rapids for us, getting drenched every time.  There are hilarious pictures of this, but you'll have to trust us because the photographer is asking $75.00 for rights to use them.  If you would like to purchase some for yourself (or preview them for free) go here.  You'll see what I mean about Kate taking the brunt of it.  Still, it was beautiful on the water, we saw 2 bald eagles, and had fun overall.

After a full day on the river, we continue west....

Mile 1924: Idaho and the Pacific Time Zone

Nothing remarkable happened.

Mile 1988: Coeur d'Alene

Coeur d'Alene (which means "Owl Heart" or "Heart of the Owl") is known principally for a large and relatively scenic lake.  By the time we got here, we were all set on taking scenic pictures of water features, so we didn't get a lot of shots.

Approaching Coeur d'Alene

I guess since it was Labor Day weekend, the only hotel in the downtown area was a kinda sketchy motel-like place.  Reminded us of one of a Wildwood motel, but maybe not as clean...

Dinner, though, was excellent.  The restaurant was called The Wine Cellar.  Wine was decent, but my salmon and Kate's chicken were both tremendous.  Mine was up there with the best salmon I've had.

Roasted Chicken with yummy polenta

I'm not sure these pics of our partially eaten meals do the restaurant justice.

Oh, yeah, and then I found out my credit card had been stolen.  Actually physically copied according to Amex, and used to buy $1100 worth of Chili's gift cards in California.  Yay.  Fortunately, Amex caught it and we won't be responsible for any of that.  Still, rather annoying.

After a long day on the river and on the road, we went to bed early.

Tomorrow:  What's in Washington state?