Up in the mornin' and off…..

The weather was wonderful today.  Idaho is known for its cold winters and cool summers and today was a perfect example of summer.  The sky was overcast, but the temp was in the 70's, so it was a perfect day to get outside!

After a pre-breakfast walk and coffee outside on the "patio", we got the bicycles prepped for a short ride.  Donna committed to a few loops around the park and a trip to the neighboring boat dock, but we got a little carried away….

The local dock is home to Coeur d'Alene Custom Wood Boats, a division of Hagadone Marine.  They have several great wood boats on consignment, and we had to stop and drool a bit. The Blue Star, a 35 footer from Rhode Island was the first one we saw, but sadly couldn't go aboard.

Inside on the showroom floor was the perfect example of current custom boat building art:

Named, appropriately, "Jefe", it is on consignment, but was built by CDA Custom to specific order.

The sign says it all.

Jefe not only is equipped with custom pillows for the comfort of guests, but also a complete custom bar setup with monogrammed towels, monogrammed crystal glassware, and monogrammed white hats to take home.  The sales brochure is available for $5, but we told them we were interested (in all wood boats…), so they gave us one to drool over.  This bad boy is not made to ski with, or to fish from; it is made to go very, very fast. And look good doing it!

After the boat shop we rode our bikes over the Spokane River Bridge into downtown CDA. It seems nobody wants to take the time to spell the name of the city, so it's CDA everywhere you go.  There is a good bike path/walking trail along the river that we accessed at Point Independence.  That's where one can sign up for para-sailing, dinner cruises and float plane rides.  We thought about a cruise until we saw the price.  Donna wanted to go para-sailing, but I talked her out of it (!!).

The ride home was pretty straightforward, except that we had to ride a mile or so beyond the bridge and  then ride along busy (no bike lane) Hwy 95.  Most of the time we rode on the sidewalk and through parking lots to avoid being a story in the newspaper.  A good ride, almost 10 miles, which is good for two old people that haven't been on a bike in almost a year!

Late afternoon brought a desire for dinner out. This time we drove downtown to a quaint little restaurant named "Scratch" in honor of the way they prepare their food.  For a long time we were the only patrons, but after a bit others came in. We had the house specialties, and I know I promised not to post pics of food, but I just have to in this case:

Donna's "Hot Pot" was seafood stew with andouille sausage and spices in a tomato broth.  There were large chunks of scallops, shrimp and halibut with potatoes and red bell peppers.  Oh boy!  Behind Donnas dish in the pic you can see the "Grown up Mac and Cheese" dish that I just had to order.  Again, scallops, shrimp and halibut in a bechamel sauce, and yes, that is a lobster tail on top.  Not bad for 37 bucks, eh? The menu had a variety of beef, chicken and pasta, but we were drawn to the seafood specials hoping they were good for us.  Hmmmm……maybe not so much.