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In-person forum invite: Travel Group meet up in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho - date set

Hi everyone, I posted an earlier inquiry on this forum to gather potential interest in an in-person meet up with our local RS Coeur d’Alene/Spokane travel group. We met this morning and discussed possible dates & expectations, etc. I will start this as a new post, so our previous discussion doesn’t muddy up the conversation.

First of all, we’re excited to have the chance to meet several of you in-person! It’s great that we’re within a day’s drive for our Seattle, Portland, Boise & western Montana forum participants! Someone mentioned that it would be a nice chance to swap some travel items. Pam kicked it off this morning by bringing some travel scarves & bags. She was even handing scarves out to the bakery staff! And, Judy has a new Rick Steves t-shirt ready for one of you! : )

Date for the event: the last weekend in September, 2026. (Yes, 2026. We’re all traveling too much for 2025.)

Location: Woops Bakery, CDA
https://bywoops.com/locations/coeur-dalene/#location-meta

Expectations:
None of our local group are hoping or offering to become a local travel guide (LOL!). Other than providing the Saturday morning venue and suggesting a couple of activities (will post these in Spring 2026) or restaurants some of us plan to do that weekend, each of you are on your own to plan your own weekend or extended time here. Specifically, that means we aren’t offering to make an itinerary or reservations for you, similar to how you would plan your own independent trip to Europe. : ). But, we will provide ideas like the link to reserve the lake cruise for a certain time period, if some of us would like to meet up on that boat ride together, or a hike one of us offers to lead.

This is the website for the resort that is on the lake in downtown CDA and a short walking distance from our bakery. The resort has the famous golf course with the floating green, plus a spa, etc.
https://www.cdaresort.com

At this time, consider this post as just a “Save the date” notice. : )

Posted by
14988 posts

Awesome, Jean! Thanks for gathering our collective thoughts and distilling them as we got a little off topic (hahahaha!!!! NORMAL!!) at times, lol.

And yes, I was able to "rehome" a personal item sized bag plus a number of scarves before I take the rest to the charity shop. I was glad both of the bakery employees wanted scarves for themselves or a family member, lol!

And yea to them having Red Velvet cookies today!

Posted by
2410 posts

I discovered this resort when doing my research. Looks like a great place.

Does this resort offer shuttle service from Spokane and back again?

Hoping to make it.

Posted by
1639 posts

Thank you Jean, I have “saved the date”!
Bostonphil, according to the resort website it does have a shuttle service to and from the Spokane airport. It’s $45 each way.

Posted by
215 posts

Thank you Jean. I’ve saved the date. Flight to Spokane is just 1 hour 10 minutes from Vancouver. Hop the shuttle for a 2 night stay at the resort. Easy peasy. I’m waiting for bunion surgery and a knee replacement so can’t go to Europe for the foreseeable future. That might be my 2026 holiday.

Posted by
3152 posts

Thanks Jean for getting the meet-up started. Date is saved. Hope to meet you all in person

Posted by
10743 posts

Yay to having a date! Thanks for putting this together. When I first saw the date I was disappointed because we are usually traveling at that time. Then I remembered that we will take our trip a little later to celebrate a big birthday next year so it should all work out. We will take advantage of being there by hopefully finally getting to Yellowstone and maybe Glacier.

Posted by
8010 posts

Andrea, go to Glacier before the meet up since an early snow could affect the main Going-to-the-Sun road through the park.

Posted by
8452 posts

Right now things are so up in the air that I don't dare plan too much ahead, but I'm really hoping I can make it (knock on wood)!