For my final and fortieth cool spot of this past Milestone Trip 2013, I present to you the main city beach at Cour d’Alene, Idaho.

Cour d’Alene, ID

To be honest Cour d’Alene was not in our plans at all, but after Henna got stomach sick in Missoula we opted out of Lolo Pass and instead drove the interstate. A couple of years ago we traveled through Cour d’Alene and thought it nice. Not spectacular, but nice. On our first day there Henna craved white rice. Luckily we found a slightly better than average Chinese restaurant. By nightfall she was back to her old self and in the morning we hit the beach on the way out of town.

Corey found the beach dirty, Henna liked building sand castles, and I just kind of drifted on our inner tube in the shallow, warm water. A sightseeing float plane took off every thirty minutes or so which at first was pretty cool but then eventually became just a loud annoyance. There were also a lot of pre-teens and teenagers running around and although harmless, they also became annoying. But laying there in the water, with Henna feeling better and our whole trip stretched out before us, I felt pretty good. I forgot about the noises, the litter on the beach, and even where I was. I knew warmth, the rocking of the tube, and peace. After maybe thirty minutes of this we were ready to head back on the road toward Mount Rainier where we would hike for days with David and Mariah. Slowly I deflated the tube and walked toward the car. Noel 8/19/13