Priest Lake Trip

The big long awaited family vacation of the summer we planned for the week before school started. The Wakins invited our family and the Thorsteds to travel with them to their parents’ house on Priest Lake in Idaho. It was a long drive- 12 hours or so. We broke it up. We caravaned with the Thorsteds on the way up. Stopped for dinner in Idaho Falls. We ordered take out and ate it at Annie’s parents house. They have beautiful house with a beautiful yard surrounded by huge pine trees. Everyone enjoyed sitting in their porch hammocks. 

 Then, we drove to Salmon, ID. Stayed in a hotel. In the morning Derek and Tyler found a pioneer marker before we hit the road. The drove through Montana up to Coeur d’Alene was just gorgeous. I would love to spend more time there. First stop in Coeur d’Alene was the Steele’s drink spot in the parking lot of one of her Dad’s grocery stores. Then it was just another hour or so Priest Lake. The Watkins parents live right on the lake. The kids had so much fun playing in the sand and lake and on the doc.

 They did a lot of tubing and boating. 

 We did kayaking and paddle boarding. Every morning generally started with a walk or run, one day we did a short hike to a waterfall and then got lunch and ice cream in town.

 Then, everyone would gather for morning meeting. Everyone took a turn sharing a thought. Amber’s Dad make oatmeal each morning, lunches were usually on our own, and we would join together for a big dinner. One day I kayaked with a bunch of the kids over to a little island just a ways up from Amber’s parents home. We explored the island, ate some snacks and paddled back. We decided to break into teams one day for a sprint triathalon. We swam, kayaked, and ran. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We hiked to a granite water slide another day. The kids wrapped themselves in trash bags and had so much fun sliding down it. 

 A whole week vacation in such a beautiful place was super hard to head home from. Poor Derek actually had to fly home from Spokane in the middle of the trip to work for a day and then back.