Pattee Family Vacation - Coeur d'Alene

After my family reunion we headed up to join the party already in progress in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. David's brother Troy had found this incredible house up in the mountains near Wallace. This is Connor and Josh outside the kitchen door. The kids loved the open hallway. I loved the deck on both sides of the house - beautiful view and very peaceful. Anna loved being with all her "little cousins" (her Brown cousins are all "big cousins"). This is Anna and her littlest cousin Caden. As usual, those Pattee women can plan a party! We did an amazing amount and variety of activities in one short week. Here are the highlights:

Silverwood Amusement Park - Did you know that the largest amusement park in Washington state is just outside Coeur d'Alene? Everyone where we are from in the Tri-Cities goes up to Silverwood. We had never been before, but we knew it would be a big hit because Anna loves rides. She enjoyed all the kiddie rides. This is Anna, Caden and Hailey. David, Anna and Hailey on the small Ferris Wheel. Anna and Hailey on the kids rollercoaster. Anna, Hailey and Jayden on the Merry go round - Rashel in the back. The Troy Pattee family with Beau driving. Not too many years from now, and that will be a real car!Here at Silverwood Anna discovered the water rides. This is David, Hailey Anna, Josh, and Jennifer getting ready to get on the rapids ride. Jennifer and Hailey in their seats waiting to enter the water. Jennifer and Hailey on the log ride. Anna wanted to ride the rapids ride over and over. Of course the problem with that idea is that you are going to get soaking wet! In fact after our third trip I said, "I'm soaking wet!" Anna replied, "I bet even your panties are wet!" She was right:). I have a sneaking suspicion that she said that to me because it was true of her. You can't tell to well from the picture, but she is dripping wet here.She also loved the log ride. She is quite the dare devil. David took her on this Ferris wheel type ride that goes really fast. He said it scared him half to death, and he held on to her for fear that she might fall out. She just laughed. He also took her on the spinning ride and almost puked when he got off. Anna said, "again, daddy again!" David called our Brother-in-law Mike to see if they were close enough to come and take her. So, Mike, Hailey, Connor and Anna spun again. Of course, David won the biggest prizes in the park at the carnival games - it is a true talent.We stayed until the park closed. We were one tired and cold group. Great time!

The Silver Mine - I bet you didn't know that the Coeur d'Alene area is full of silver! I didn't either. Wallace is this cute old town with antique stores, mining museum, railroad museum, and a silver mine that you can tour. I thought it was really fascinating. We got to walk all the way in to the mine, (what a good looking group of people!) and the guide showed us exactly how they did the work. I cannot imagine how hard that life must have been. Anna did not like being in the mine so much, but she loved the trolley car we got to ride to and from the mine.Mudgy Moose - Did you know that there is a walking tour of a moose in Coeur d'Alene? This was Anna's favorite activity. It was a hit with all the kids. This lady wrote a children's book about Mudgy the Moose and Millie the Mouse playing hide and go seek around the town of Coeur d'Alene. The city commissioned an artist to make statues of Mudgy and place them according to the story. If you start at the first statue, you begin reading the story and then follow the signs to the next Mudgy statue where the story continues. I think there were eight of them. The last statue is on the shore of the lake right by the swimming area, so we finished the day swimming. Those kids loved following the signs, and maps to the next Mudgy. There is also a catchy little tune on their website that we sang as we trekked. If you would like it stuck in you head for the next five days you can click here.

The Longest Gondola - Did you know that the longest Gondola ride (think tram, not Venice) can be found in Kellog, Idaho? I actually have a fairly intense fear of heights, so I did have to do some relaxation breathing and look out on the horizon during this adventure. Here is Grandpa Terry riding in our Gondola. It was a beautiful view, and they had a fun playground with bouncy house, etc. at the top. It would be a fun place to ski. Anna loved riding in the Gondola, and had absolutely no fear whatsoever. She loved looking for the bikers who were riding down the mountain.

Digging for Garnets - Did you know that you can go mining for garnets on Forest Service land about an hour or so from Wallace, Idaho? I was not paying attention to the planning of this event, so neither Anna nor I really dressed correctly for the activity. It was amazing. It was in absolutely the middle of nowhere. We drove and drove on paved roads, then dirt roads. We parked in the middle of a forest, and walked about a half mile into the forest. There at the end of the trail was a canopy with a desk and a couple of forest service personnel, a big mountain of dirt, some stumps with sifters next to them, two sluice chutes, and a whole bunch of people. After you paid your permit, you got two buckets and filled them up with dirt from the mountain. You carried your buckets to the stumps where you sat. You scooped some dirt into the sifters and shook out all the extra dirt, saving the sifted rocks in a new bucket. This is Mike and Hailey sifting their dirt. Then you took your rocks to the sluice chutes (chutes with water running down them between 1-2 inches deep). Anna is helping carry the buckets to the chutes.You scooped some rocks into new sifters, put it in the water and shook it until the dirt got washed off the rocks. Now came the tricky part. You had to decide which rocks were just rocks, and which were actual garnets. The garnets kind of shined like dark purple glass. It really was pretty fun. It was like playing in dirt mixed together with a treasure hunt. David and I found a lot of big (small pebble to small marble) sized pieces. Anna loved digging in the dirt and playing in the water the first time around. After the second trip through the process she was done, and went home with Grandma and Penny. It was the most unique activity we did.

Being Together - Of course, the best part of any family trip, is just that we get to be together. I love to watch Anna play with her cousins. They made up dances, performed skits, played chase, swam in the hot tub, rode bikes, played games (Duck, Duck, Bruce!), and who knows what else. Anna was so sad when we left. We all went to the mining statue on our way out of town, saw a moose even, but when everyone got back in their cars, and we drove our separate ways Anna was confused. She had gotten so used to having everyone around. All the way home she told me how much she missed her cousins.

Thus ended our two week tour. It was a great time, and I loved doing it all in one big trip. Part of the good feeling might have come from the fact that Coeur d'Alene is less than three hours from our house. I had so much energy when we got home that we unpacked the car, and I unpacked the suitcases and did the laundry. That is usually a whole weeks project. We had so much fun being together with our families. What a great summer adventure!