Spokane, Eastern Washington, and Idaho

After a few days in the North Cascades, we continued our road trip and ventured toward the eastern side of Washington. It's amazing how quickly the landscapes in the western US can vary, especially compared to the eastern half of the country. Leaving Leavenworth, the environment quickly changes from forests to farms to grasslands to desert within a few short miles. We traveled through these dry landscapes with the backdrop of smoke-filled skies from the wildfires.

Our first stop was in Dutch Henry Draw, a small canyon where we hiked to tiny Dutch Henry Falls. This was vastly different from our lake hikes in the North Cascades - it was essentially a short trek across a dusty desert to a small hidden waterfall. The tiny oasis below the falls was lush and filled with tadpoles, birds, insects and a random deer.

I don't think most people would guess this is Washington! You can see some wildfire haze.

The trail to Dutch Henry Falls.

A tiny waterfall and pool hidden in the desert!

Nearby Jameson Lake.

Continuing east, we went to Dry Falls State Park. This state park is at the site of a massive ancient waterfall created when glacial lake Missoula burst through ice dams and made its way to the Columbia River and the Pacific via massive floods. There is an observation area with exhibits explaining the geography of the area and images of what the falls would have looked like. The state park also hosts a few lakes along the water table with lakeside recreation and hiking trails. While here, we took a short hike to the Lake Lenore Caves. These shallow rock overhangs served as a good viewpoint of the valley. It was a short but very hot hike with no shade.

Huckleberry ice cream. Huckleberries is like blueberries, but can't be cultivated. A treat anytime we're in the northwest.

Overview from Dry Falls State Park.

A huge waterfall flowed over these cliffs thousands of years ago.

David at one of the cave entrances.

A view along the Lake Lenore Caves trail.

We went to three different caves.

Hanging out in the smallest cave! A nice break from the intense sun outside.

Resuming the trip towards Spokane, we passed through a few small cities and stopped briefly at the Govan schoolhouse. It's the one remaining building of a town that formerly had hundreds of people. It was a quick stop just a minute off the main road.

The Govan Schoolhouse.

We made it to Spokane by late afternoon, and took a walk around downtown and Riverfront Park. It was still very hot (Spokane has been in a heat wave since the end of June), which was a contrast to the last time David visited this city in summer and it was cool and a bit rainy. Overall, Spokane is a pretty nice place and an under-rated city. The downtown is larger and more walkable than you'd expect from an American city its size (only a few hundred thousand people). There are many restaurants, bars and shops in downtown, many of which were just reopening from COVID closures.

The nicest part of Spokane is the series of parks and venues along the riverfront. There are multiple miles of walking and biking trails along the rocks/cliffs near the river, and a large park that was part of Expo '74, the first world's expedition themed to the environment. After our walk, we had a great dinner at Wooden City, then returned to our hotel. This was by far the nicest lodging of our trip. We stayed at the Historic Davenport Hotel, a spectacular 1914 hotel that has been fully restored. The lobby is worth a visit even if you're not staying here.

View of our historic hotel.

Riverfront Park.

View of some of the falls.

So many good viewpoints!

The spectacular lobby of our hotel.

Dinner time! The food and drinks were great at Wooden City.

Pimento cheese dip at Wooden City.

The next morning we set out early for Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (about a 40 minute drive east from Spokane) with the goal of visiting Silverwood amusement park. Silverwood is kind of in the middle of nowhere, and is the North American park with the most roller coasters that Paul had not yet visited. The park didn't open until 11AM, so we first stopped in downtown Coeur d'Alene and walked around for a bit and had breakfast at Honey Eatery and Social Club. We didn't have much time here, but it seemed like a cute little tourist city.

Coeur d'Alene's downtown is super cute and walkable!

Best breakfast place of the trip. David had Kimchi fried rice breakfast with pastrami!

Silverwood is a surprisingly good park. It's not that big, but has a couple of great coasters and some really well maintained landscaping. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, it was "Toyota Tuesday" where Toyota owners got free tickets. So the park was packed. We just got one ride on each coaster before heading out. The park had two wooden coasters, including Tremors, a unique ride with several underground tunnels. The standout ride is the new Stunt Pilot coaster.

Yay, roller coaster alley!

The new Stunt Pilot coaster.

Tremors wooden coaster.

This is a hill where the coaster comes from underground, crosses the path, and goes right back underground!

From Silverwood we drove north a bit before cutting back west and south to Spokane. We enjoyed the Idaho scenery, taking in views of the Pend Orielle River and stopping in the cute town of Sandpoint. We finished the day with dinner at Nudo Ramen in Spokane.

Matchwood Brewing Company in Sand Point, Idaho.

We stopped for a flight!

The Cedar Street Bridge Public Market in Sandpoint.

Dandan noodles and yakitori at Nudo Ramen House in Spokane.

For the next part of our Washington trip we again drove across the State towards Mount Rainier National Park, where'd we'd spend a few days. More to come!