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UPDATED DETAILS for Sept 26 2026 Weekend Meet up in Coeur d’Alene Idaho

Hi everyone,

Our Coeur d’Alene/Spokane travel group is 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! For others, Coeur d’Alene is a popular tourist destination in this green, mountainous region for golfing, hiking, boating, fishing, and biking. Note: the Crown Jewel of the scenic rail-to-trail bike route will be closed this weekend to bikes. There’s a Negative Split running race on here September 27, if you’re okay with open heights & long tunnels. https://www.ridethehiawatha.com/the-trail

SEPTEMBER 25: No host - Friday evening meet up
The Resort has a beautiful lobby area, plus sitting area as you walk farther into the resort, a view out the back with tables for a drink, restaurants inside, etc. For travelers arriving Friday evening who want to have a meet up spot before everything begins Saturday, this is probably the easiest meeting spot for the travelers interested since it’s a prominent landmark. From there you can decide if you want to eat in the Dockside Restaurant at the resort or just sit outside on the terrace to have a conversation. Time: 6pm tentative. If you’re planning to eat on the top floor Beverly’s Restaurant anytime during your stay, be sure to get reservations at least a few weeks ahead.)

SEPTEMBER 26, SATURDAY Schedule
10:00am - meet up at UPDATE - new name, “Florette” (our regular Woops Bakery), 119 N 4th St, Coeur d'Alene

2:30pm Boat cruise on Lake CDA w/ Jean at 2:30pm. Boarding begins at 2pm & the earliest people in line get the desired upper deck. Purchase your tickets @ https://www.cdacruises.com/)

Evening dinner - possibly a dinner downtown or grocery store meet up potluck at McEuen Park (next to the lake & resort) if we’d rather be casual.

SEPTEMBER 27, SUNDAY Schedule

Hiking w/ Pam: Meet at the English Point parking lot ( E English Point Rd, Hayden) at 10am. If you need a ride, Pam will pick up from downtown CDA at 9:30am. Hike conditions permiting.

Packing Light Demo w/Jean: Jean will offer a packing light demo in her home at 2pm for any interested women to see “the how & the why” of the contents of her 13-lb. packed Cotopaxi. (The address will be handed out at the Saturday morning meet up. It won’t be posted on-line.)

Resort Info:
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 pool, spa, etc. As I mentioned, this is a popular location; book reservations by Spring. There’s other hotel options outside of downtown CDA.

https://www.cdaresort.com. Otherwise, there’s several hotels in CDA/Post Falls/Hayden. This is a popular Summer destination, so they will fill up.

Golf:. The Resort has the floating green. There’s several other courses in the region. One option that Jean’s husband especially liked beside his home course is Circling Raven. https://www.cdacasino.com/golf/
If you would like a unique, mountainous experience, there’s a 9-hole course near Kellogg - Galena Ridge Golf Course where you will likely see moose tracks & eagles as you drive your cart up switchbacks. The greens aren’t perfectly groomed, but you will be talking about this one for a long time!

Galena Ridge:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5xucG3P1Cs&pp=ygUXZ2FsZW5hIHJpZGdlIGdvbGYgaWRhaG8%3D&ra=m

Hope to see you there!
The CDA/Spokane RS Local Travel Group

Posted by
2619 posts

Thank you, Jean, for all this information. Lynn and I plan to be there. I still need to get my air ticket though.

Posted by
25 posts

Good Morning Jean. I'm coming, and staying at the Greenbrier Inn.

Posted by
4086 posts

Jean--I am so looking forward to this and to seeing you again! You already know where I am staying;)

Posted by
11669 posts

Hubby and I are coming and staying in an apartment downtown. It looks to be within walking distance of Woops. We will have our car.

Posted by
791 posts

My husband and I will be staying at Greenbriar Inn on Friday and Saturday nights. Sunday night we will be at a Chicago concert in Spokane!

See you in September!

Posted by
356 posts

I see Laurie Beth answered for me. :) Looking forward to the visit.

Posted by
12698 posts

It looks like I am able to come after all! I just booked my flight with Delta—I get in to Spokane on Friday around noon-ish, and leave on Monday late morning. I haven't booked a room yet but plan to in the next day or so.

Posted by
9964 posts

Ten of us were at our local meet up this morning, and we went over our normal 90 minutes by an extra 30 since we were catching up after traveling & had a new couple asking help with their Italy plans. We’ll plan for extra time when everyone is here! : ). Looking forward to meeting all of you!

Posted by
17401 posts

Thanks, Jean for organizing our weekend!

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

I had Jean add conditions permitting to the hike since I’m a fair weather hiker, 😆😆. They also have half the area closed doing some mitigation work after a spring windstorm took down a bunch of timber. I don’t think they are planning anything on the side we normally hike on but I’ll monitor that.

Posted by
11669 posts

Yay Mardee! I’m looking forward to seeing people I know and meeting people I would like to know.

Posted by
2619 posts

I'm so excited. I've made my air and hotel reservations for Sept. Tomorrow I'll check out the cruise. I'll probably make a reservation. I'm not staying at the beautiful resort (air prices were too high), but I'd love to meet up with my fellow Forum travelers in the lobby there on Fri night at 6pm. as Jean suggested. If you think you'll be there Fri night and want to have dinner at the Dockside Restaurant, send me a private message by Labor Day and I'll call them to get us a reservation. We'll have to come up with a color to wear or carry a Rick Steves Guide or something to identify each other.

Posted by
12698 posts

I'm getting excited, too! And yes, Andrea, getting to meet people that I've only written to or zoomed with will be so great!!!

Posted by
2077 posts

Unfortunately something has come up and I won’t be able to make it. I do tend to go through Idaho once or twice a year so hopefully one of those times will coincide with a “ regular” meet-up. Have fun everyone and write a trip report. ;-)

Posted by
9964 posts

Bumping this one to keep it active since responses are listed here.

Posted by
1603 posts

Jean, I’m glad you bumped this up because I apparently didn’t respond earlier that I plan to make the trip. I am excited to meet so many of the Forum members in our area in person. See you in September

Posted by
25 posts

Something has come up for me and I will not be attending. It's such a disappointment. I wanted you to know if you are tracking numbers for the bakery meet-up on Saturday. I look forward to reading all about the weekend. Enjoy!

Posted by
12698 posts

Jean, thanks for the updates! I’m really looking forward to this

Posted by
9964 posts

Trotter & MaryK, I’m sorry you can’t join us for the weekend event, but you’re welcome anytime for one of our regular “1st Saturday of the month” meet ups. We are shifting the next one to a different week, and our regular January meet up is always by Zoom - just because someone within our Coeur d’Alene/Spokane region tends to have snow or ice that month. Otherwise, the 1st Saturday is our norm.

Posted by
2077 posts

Thank you Jean. I do hope to visit in the not too distant future. Until then, stay safe. I hope the winds diminish and all of you in the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene area are well.

Posted by
9964 posts

Trotter, one of our ladies had to evacuate her home because of the proximity, but her home is fine. Such a heartbreaking tragedy for so many people! Our air quality in my city has been hovering in the “unhealthy” and “very unhealthy” range since Sunday.

Posted by
4086 posts

Jean--I have been wondering if any of the fires were affecting you. It is really smokey over here, but of course I cannot complain.

Posted by
25 posts

Thank you Jean for the open invitation. I am going to get there one of these days!

Posted by
12192 posts

It has finally been determined that I won't be coming to the weekend. As you know it was a minor tack on to a far more substantive month or so trip to the PNW.

Unfortunately external factors entirely out of my hands have now forced the postponement of that trip by another year- at least officially it can only happen in September, sort of after the main fire season, and before the winter snow.

Considerably frustrating and hugely disappointing, but it is what it is.