6/29: Coeur D'Alene, ID: Tubbs Hill, Dicey & Mudgy Moose in City Park!

Earlier that late June day, Steven and I had spent a few hours in the eastern Washington city of Spokane before driving just a few miles over the border to the northern Idaho city of Coeur d'Alene whose name was taken from the local Native American tribe. French trappers had called them Coeur d'Alene which translated to "heart of the awl" which meant they were shrewd traders. General William Sherman established an Army post in 1878 where the Spokane River drained Lake Coeur d'Alene and the ensuing town was named after the lake. After the city prospered in the 1880s mining boom, it became the busiest shipping point and, for a period, the busiest steamboat port west of the Mississippi River. 

As Idaho's "Lake City" Coeur d'Alene has become a popular (i.e. expensive) resort with people thronging to the city's beaches, parks, and docks. That was why we ended up staying in a hotel not far across the border in Washington! We had come to visit friends who had relocated from Denver so they could be nearer family. Before meeting them, we hiked up Tubbs Hill, a 120-acre preserve with plenty of trails to secluded coves and beaches.

Hard to find a more panoramic and peaceful view than this! It was pretty blissful watching people enjoy 90-minute cruises of the lake once described by National Geographic as "one of the five most beautiful lakes in the world." Surrounded by mountains and a lush forest, the 25-mile long lake had a 135-mile long shoreline with one of the world's largest populations of osprey!

Driving through the busy but small city, it was fun catching sight of the colorful utility boxes.

We'd arranged to meet our friends, Kay and Gary, at Independence Point figuring it was safer to meet outside with well-founded concerns about Covid-19 and the risks to us older folks!

It was fun spotting the seaplane land so close to downtown.

I could see why Kay suggested we meet by Dicey, the large die in the park as it was impossible to miss! When I googled to find its history, I learned that the die, which was believed to be an old water tank that weighed well over 1,000 pounds, first appeared on the shores of a property along the Coeur d’Alene River in Cataldo, Idaho, in 2001. During a period of flooding in 2008, the tank then floated away and washed up at Driftwood Point where a local property owner ended up deciding to spruce it up with some white vinyl dots – making it a die. In 2017, it washed away again and appeared in downtown Coeur d’Alene! When no one claimed it, the city took possession of it and installed the 'art piece' near where it came in.

Kay and Gary keeping safe in these crazy times:

Perhaps it was because Steven and I hadn't traveled in the Pacific Northwest for many years that we were surprised to spot a number of time capsules on this trip. This one wouldn't be opened until 2087 - I wonder what artifacts people had thought important to set aside for future generations.

When Kay suggested the four of us walk on the North Idaho Centennial Trail along the shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene, we accepted immediately knowing we could be safe walking several feet from each other as well as enjoy their pretty lake scenes. 

Lake Coeur d'Alene was a fun spot for water and other adventurists!

I shall treasure these photos of Kay and myself until we can hopefully meet up again someday, somewhere. They're like our own 'time capsule,' maskless and masked in this time of Covid-19!

Across from the lake was City Park which we walked through on hearing about the town's carousel since we'd become enamored with them after encountering several of them on this trip. City Park, established in 1904, was part of Fort Sherman Post and the US Military from 1878 to 1901 and then used for grazing. 

The town's Historic Playground Pier Carousel had graced the shores of Coeur d'Alene from the early 1940s for thirty years when it was part of an amusement park. Fortunately, it survived intact when it was rescued in 1986 by carousel collectors and restorers who gifted it to the city in 2011. But it wasn't until 2017 that its new home was completed and opened for new generations of children to enjoy.

 

The Merry-Go-Round was a traveling carnival carousel hand carved with 20 ponies, 1 chariot, and still the original park paint on the ponies. The handpainted art panels depicting beautiful scenes of Coeur d'Alene were added in 1996. 

The park's Human Rights Education Institute, located in the historic 1902 Spokane & Inland Empire Electric Railway substation, was a cultural organization that educated and raised awareness about human rights issues.  

In the middle of the park was one of the five life-sized bronze Mudgy Moose and Millie Mouse statues created by local artist Terry Lee located on the Mudgy Moose Trail around Coeur d'Alene. The statues were based on the Mudge and Millie books written by Susan Nipp. 

After discovering this Mudge and Milly statue located by Independence Point, Steven and I were determined to seek out the others on the Trail! 

It was sad saying goodbye to Kay and Gary not knowing when or if we might meet up again, given the distance between our homes. I had hoped and thought we would see more of them as we were in the area for three days just for that reason but concerns about the virus made that very difficult.

On the Mudgy Trail: 

We found another Mudge and Milly just outside the city library.

Perhaps Steven and I will look like this sculpture in many, many years!!

Yeah, another Mudgy and Millie on picturesque Sherman St, aka Coeur d'Alene's main street. I was so looking forward to buying the books for our granddaughter, Max, born just six weeks earlier in San Francisco, and for our soon-to-be-born granddaughter, Clara, in Chicago!

Steven and I then drove back toward City Park to see the city's oldest church, school, library, and meeting hall. Fort Sherman Chapel was constructed in 1880 by the US Army and used until the fort was decommissioned in 1900. The buildings and property were sold at public auction in 1905, restored in 1942, and donated to the Museum of North Idaho in 1984. The chapel has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

More amusing utility boxes as we left Coeur d'Alene en route to Treaty Rock in the small Idaho town of Post Falls on the border with Washington.

To reach Treaty Rock, we walked through a beautiful natural area with trails, native vegetation, and interesting rock formations, in a four-acre park.

This National Historic Register site represented the coming together of two cultures: the rock art or Native American pictographs depicted a horse, three human figures following a coyote figure, and tally marks. It also included the name of Post Falls founder Frederick Post, and the date June 1, 1871.

As known in written history, Treaty Rock was a special site for the Coeur d'Alene Native Americans and the people of today because it signified a specific time where great change occurred and affected both a growing nation and a people that had lived on these lands for thousands of years. The rock was the site of the legendary treaty between Chief Seltice of the Coeur d’Alene Native Americans and Post, the Town’s founder. 

To prevent damage to the pictographs, there was a large plastic screen over the images.

Next post: Since we couldn't unfortunately see Kay and Gary again, Steven and I made plans to visit the Seven Stars Alpaca Ranch in rural Kootenai County, Idaho, the following morning.

Posted on snowy October 25th, 2020, from our home in the Denver suburbs, just two weeks after we left warm and sunny Florida! We hope that you are staying warm, healthy, happy, and safe during these challenging times.