Rathdrum, Idaho – August 11th to 14th

From camping at Lake Koocanusa we finally had a chance to catch up with the Thom family, who we’d met when they visited Australia, and whose daughter Luisa we’d spent a bit (but not enough!) time with when she lived in Sydney for a year – we hadn’t really travelled anywhere near them yet although we really wanted to visit, so it was great when we discovered that travelling from Lake Koocanusa to the Olympia convention grounds in Washington would take us pretty much right through where they lived! So we left the lake with time to spend a few days with them before heading to convention, and we had a great time!!

As Luisa and two of her sisters, Kimberley and Makayla, are living in Seattle at the moment, it was just Bruce, Jeana and Kayleen at home, and they really looked after us!

We didn’t get too far away from Lake Koocanusa on our way to Rathdrum, as we were pretty exhausted from having fun! So we stayed in the town of Libby in Montana for the night, and it was great to finally talk to my family (who were almost all visiting together at home, wish we were there!). Then we headed to the meeting in Bonners Ferry the next morning, before discovering the 1 hour time difference (we could have slept for an hour longer!) going into Idaho – we got to Bruce and Jeana’s place in the early afternoon, and headed into nearby Coeur d’Alene on their boat, for a delicious dinner at a restaurant there. It was such a nice summery night too!

Jeana and I on the boat

Bruce, Jeana, Nicole, Lawrie

Nicole, Kayleen, Bruce, Jeana

Bruce

Jeana

The next morning Lawrie and Bruce went for a mountain bike ride at Beauty Bay nearby – a little more exciting than anticipated, with a couple of wasp stings and a close up moose sighting (as it stormed through the trees and across the track in front of them!), as well as plenty of uphill and downhill riding. In the meantime, Jeana and I had a little more of a relaxing time, heading to a nearby spa for a much appreciated massage!

Lawrie & Bruce about to head off riding

Lawrie checked out Bruce’s awesome workshop and machinery, right next to their house, and we were pretty impressed with it all! Bruce manufactures the actions for high class guns for target shooting, and the gun that holds the long distance record was made with his parts! We also checked out a few of their actual guns, which were pretty schmick!

Part of one of the machines in the workshop

Some of the guns made in the workshop

Because it had to be done....

That evening we headed for a ride with Jeana and I as well, and a couple of the friends who live nearby – awesome tracks not too far from home!

Riding at Beacon Hill - at the bottom...

Jeana & I at the top

Bruce, Jeana, Nicole & Lawrie

After another delicious dinner and very late night, we had a bit more of a lazy morning, then headed back into Coeur d’Alene to try the awesome Hudson’s Hamburgers for lunch – definitely worthwhile!!

Kayleen, Jeana, Nicole & Lawrie at Hudson's Hamburgers

Lawrie then rode along with the girls to the nearby Spokane Valley Mall, where we found a few great buys (so need to do more shopping over here!! Maybe we can leave behind all of our original things we brought over…) Then we headed out on the boat for the evening! Another beautiful summer’s night, with an awesome water temperature of 81ºF (27ºC!!!) on Spirit Lake. Lawrie and I had a go at wakeboarding (Lawrie immediately successful, and I finally got up after several tries, it was great!!). Then Bruce & Jeana showed us how single skiing is done, and Kayleen got up on a single ski and did awesomely, and then Lawrie had another go on a single ski and seemed to master it! By then it was getting pretty dark, and not so great for skiing without big headlights on the boat, so we stopped to cook our delicious dinner on the boat, before heading home again – we had such a great time!! So hopefully we’ll be able to come back and visit the Thoms before we head home, or at least catch up somewhere else over here!!

Lawrie wakeboarding

Almost succesfull!

Finally! But not quite the expression of joy you might expect...

Bruce on a single ski

Gliding to a stop after letting go

Jeana on a single ski

Kayleen after getting up on a single ski!

Success at last! Single skiing for Lawrie :)

Dinner (supper?!) on the boat - delicious steak, baked potato and salad :)