When we left off yesterday we had just finished packing up our campsite in The Inferno Pasco, Washington and were back on the road for day 2. We were sweaty, but on the road.
Day 2 was a short car day. I liked to plan a few short car days to make up for the few long car days we had. We had still packed up the snack cooler that morning with a few things for the peanut gallery to munch on. If they had some snacks we found that they were much more quiet and easy-going. Imagine that! It pays to keep their mouths busy.
Our weird road stop for the day was the milk bottle buildings of Spokane, Washington. They are two buildings in two different parts of town. I’m not sure why they’re milk bottles but they did make for a nice photo opportunity.
Milk Bottle Buildings!
The neighborhood that the bottle on the right was in was super adorable. Spokane is a pretty cool town. I had no idea it was one of the bigger towns in the area. Even folks from Coeur d’Alene (our next destination) have to go to Spokane for some things.
From Spokane it is a less than an hour to Coeur d’Alene. We were staying with Mr. Handsome’s friends from college who he hadn’t seen for a really long time. They were all so happy to get together! Apparently Mr. Handsome was responsible for his two friends falling in love, so that was a nice story to hear! When we got into town we had lunch at a cool new burger establishment called Crafted.
Hanging at our lunch table
Then we did a little walk around the very cute downtown Coeur d’Alene. Mr. Handsome’s friends gave Kiddo1 a book about CDA’s own Millie the Moose and Mudgie the Mouse so we went to see a one of the moose sculptures of downtown. Kiddo1 was not into it at the time, hence he is not pictured…
With Millie the Moose
But he perked up when it came time to peruse the candy shop. Still no photographs allowed of him, though, so I got Baby2 again instead.
Sugarrrrrrrr!
We hung out at Mr. Handsome’s friends’ house in the evening and had dinner, then a trip on the boat!
Baby2 had never been on a boat before! Our hosts actually had to get a life jacket that was small enough for her. They were so sweet. Kiddo1 did have a blast swimming in the lake. He now thinks lake swimming is super fun. Baby2 was a little timid at first…
She’s not so sure about this boat
But she warmed up to the idea of aquatic travel eventually.
Happy!
We ended our evening with ice cream, everyone’s favorite way to end the evening.
Kiddo1 with Mr. Handsome’s friends’ kids
Although Mr. Handsome and I really ended our day with diaper laundry and an upset little lady. Baby2 was having a hard time falling asleep when we stayed at someone’s house or in a hotel. She did great going to sleep when we were camping though! Luckily our hosts weren’t disturbed (at least they claimed to have not been disturbed). And she did settle down after a bit of snuggling and reassurance.
I mentioned diaper laundry – yes, we still cloth diaper when we travel! It is easy, as long as we can do laundry every other day or so. We keep the soiled diapers in our best wetbag (best at containing the diaper aromas, that is) and we have one backpack dedicated to clean diapers, wipes, covers, and our diaper pad for changes. We’re good at changing a diaper in the car (the minivan provides lots of flat surfaces). I think we have our system down pretty well! I can tell you I’d much rather carry around one cute wetbag with diapers that I know I’ll wash and get all fluffy soft and clean again than to carry around even a few used disposables, or have to stop at a store periodically to buy diapers. Honestly, diapers are no fun either way, but this is my way of dealing with it!
Once all the diapers were cleaned and we were somewhat rested, it was time to start our travels for day 3. We said goodbye to our very gracious hosts and snapped a quick pic of Lake Coeur d’Alene on our way out of town.
Morning at the lake
We stopped at some of the unique attractions of Northern Idaho! In Wallace, the home of the last stoplight on I-90, we visited a small spaceship!
Still a spaceship
Kiddo1 says it shouldn’t count as a spaceship because it won’t actually go into space, but what does he know? We grabbed some lunch fixin’s from the trunk and headed over to Kellog, Idaho to see some scrap metal sculptures:
Scrap metal airplane
Scrap metal dragon fight
Next step, Montana! And that is where we’ll pick up tomorrow!
9 Years Later 