Liberty Lake, Washington

Halfway between Spokane and Coeur d'Alene

One of the areas that I have always wanted to visit is the Pacific Northwest. We spent 13 weeks in this area and while we saw, and did, a lot of things, there’s still so much that we didn’t see. I guess we will have to plan for another trip to this area!

Our first stop was in Liberty Lake, Washington. This up and coming town is right off of I-90 and just inside the Washington state border. I loved that it’s halfway between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene - just under 20 miles from each - but it still felt like its own area and not just a suburb of either city. They have a wonderful Farmer’s Market on Saturdays with an incredible amount of locally grown fruits and vegetables, several fresh cut flower options, and lots of food trucks. Liberty Lake did not have a lot of big chain restaurants (those were a couple of miles down the road), but it did have smaller, locally owned coffee shops and restaurants. One of our favorite places here was New Love Coffee. The coffee and tea were both great, the atmosphere was laid back, and their hand pies were yummy too. Just down the street from here was a park that had gorgeous sunset views.

We stayed in Liberty Lake RV Campground. While it looks very nice in photos, and we had some great views of the sunrises, it felt more like an impersonal RV lot. It was a campground that has a lot of potential, but very little personality. This is one of the few RV parks where the prices to use the laundry onsite were so expensive that I found a very nice laundromat nearby instead.

One evening we ventured into downtown Spokane to check out Huntington Park and the Lower Falls. There is a SkyRide that takes you on a tour above Spokane Falls, but only allows riders when the temps allow it (if I remember correctly, the cut off is 90 degrees). We were visiting during one of their heat waves and the SkyRide was not open to passengers. We enjoyed walking around the park and exploring the area. While we did see water in the lower falls, the view is more spectacular during springtime.

Another day we ventured to Coeur d’Alene and drove along the scenic highway that follows the lake on the east side. There were several areas where we could pull off and enjoy the views of the lake. There were also a couple of hiking areas, but parking for those was limited. We drove as far as Harrison, where we stopped for a snack, some caffeine, and looked around. We had planned to eat lunch here, but there was also a music festival going on and most places were either low on food or had a long wait. After our brief stop here, we drove back to Coeur d’Alene to eat a late lunch and explore a little around the downtown area.

Manito Park in Spokane was another day trip and it has an amazing flower garden area! It’s home to Gaiser Conservatory, Duncan Gardens, Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden, and had several different areas full of flowers for bees and butterflies. I was amazed that they still had so many flowers in bloom in late July. You could tell that the recent heat wave was starting to take a toll on the flowers, but there were still several new buds getting ready to bloom. Their park office is also located here and I loved how it was designed to blend in with everything.

Post Falls, Idaho, is on the Spokane River and at one time was home to a large lumber mill. I stopped here one afternoon after running a few errands in Coeur d’Alene. Frederick Post, the namesake for Post Falls, built a dam here to divert water to help with moving the lumber for his lumber mill down the river and to provide electricity for the lumber mill and a nearby flour mill. In late July the water level was low enough that the dam was not releasing any water, but the historical plaques and short walk around the park was nice for a quick stop. The park also connects to a bike and running trail that runs between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

After our stay here, we headed to the Portland area to meet up with Grace and finish out the month of July.