Coeur d'Alene

I got 2 responses when I would tell people I was going to Coeur d'Alene.

 

It was either, "Oh my gosh that place is so beautiful, you will never want to come home!"

 

or, people had never heard of it.

 

I had never heard of it until my uncle and his family moved there, and ever since my sweet grandparents have wanted to get everyone up there for a family vacation. This has been in the works for over a year now, and to be honest I wasn't overly excited about it at first until 1- I google imaged "Couer d'Alene", and 2- Brennan informed me that one of his bucket list golf courses was there, and that he's only played it 1000 times on Tiger Woods' Playstation golf game growing up.

 

The part I think we were all dreading was the 10 HOUR DRIVE. Coeur d'Alene is at the very tip top of Idaho, just 30 minutes from Spokane, Washington and a few hours from Canada. Since we had to haul bikes and golf clubs there, flying wasn't an option, so we sucked it up and made the trek up north.

 

 

Pretty cute car cuddlers if I do say so myself.

 

My grandparents rented two houses next to each other right on the lake, and now I'm kicking myself for not getting more pictures of them. They were exactly what you would expect, true lake houses.

 

 

The second we got there we ate dinner and then headed out for a boat ride. It stays light until at least 10 pm there so time was on our side.

 

 

 

 

It was so fun to see all the lakehouses by boat. They all have their own little dock and some have sand beaches.

 

I stuck to tubing but Bren tried some fancier things. Neither Bren or I are big boaters. We always joke that we know we're meant to be because Bren was so relieved to find out he wasn't marrying into a big boating family, and I felt the same way. But once a year and especially in Coeur d'Alene? We're all over it!!!

 

 

The canoes were super fun. Bren got a great shoulder work out while I took in all the scenery ;)

 

The next morning we headed over to Honeysuckle Beach and took turns taking boat rides from there. It was a darling little beach!

 

 

 

 

My beautiful, beautiful sis.

 

 

 

No lifeguard on duty

 

Then we got ready and headed into town for lunch. My uncle took us to the coolest café I couldn't even tell you the name of -- these French names are tough to remember, let alone spell!

 

After that,

 

IT WAS TIME TO GOLF!

 

Bren and I borrowed my dad's truck and headed to the course. We drove up to the gates of the most pristine landscaping we'd ever seen and checked in with a sweet man that said, "Oh do have a marvelous time" and then opened the gates for us. Then they valeted our car and got Bren's clubs on a cart while we checked in at the pro shop and then met our darling caddy.

 

The famous floating green was RIGHT THERE and it was pretty dang cool.

 

 I'm always the practice shot while Bren sets up his camera before we ask someone to take one of us haha. 

 

 

3 CHEERS FOR A CLEAR SHOT!

 

We of course got there almost an hour early (Bren's request) so he had lots of time to practice on the driving range.

 

 

You actually hit the balls into the lake and the current brings all the balls in to the shore. How cool is that?!

 

Even cooler: Bren got a pre-game massage too!

 

 

It was so fun to come along with him for this experience. I'm sure I got a looooot of looks for how many pictures I was taking.

 

 

(see what I mean)

 

Then it was tee time!

 

 

 

Bren and his caddy-turned-bff Kyle. He's getting married on September 19th! What a great day. The caddys at this course are not allowed to ride on the back of the carts! We told him we wouldn't tell anybody and to hop on but he said his boss is always watching and that people have been fired for it. He was running all over the course to tell you yardage and all that fancy golf stuff I still don't fully understand.

 

 

 

I guess these are famous sand bunkers. One of the guys Bren was playing with hit it in that sand and I told him that at least it's famous sand!

 

My sweet, sweet boy. Like a kid on Christmas morning.

 

 

Bromance.

 

Now let's talk about hole #14 AKA the floating green.

 

 

 

Bren totally said a prayer before this hole. If he made one good shot, he wanted it to be on this hole.

 

 

Good caddys get down on all fours HA

 

 

AND GUESS WHO PARRED IT!?

 

 

With a certificate to prove it! The lady who took us over to the hole and back by ferry asked Bren if he wanted one and wrote it up for him. But it gets better...

 

 

Engraved bag tags for both of us!

 

Brennan could not stop talking about how much fun he was having and how happy he was. It was definitely the highlight of the trip and I'm so happy I was there with him. We celebrated at a Mexican restaurant in town before heading back.

 

The rest of our trip was spent hiking Tubbs Hill (supposedly the #1 hike in Idaho),

 

 

 

eating at more fun restaurants in town, and lots of rides on the Razor.

 

 

 

 

There was also some rain on the lake, which made it even more peaceful than before. Most people would probably just enjoy it from inside but not Bren- he wanted to play around with his camera and get wet in the rain. He definitely makes me more adventurous.

 

 

 

It was so fun to be here with family for a long weekend. Coeur d'Alene is the definition of the heart eyes emoji- I mean WOW. Now I know what those people were talking about! The long road trip was worth it to see this place with my own two eyes.

 

xoxo