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

Thanks for your post Cherie! I look forward to meeting you!

Pam

Hi Cheryl, I’m on a RS tour right now but happy to catch your post while drinking my morning coffee. : )

Looking forward to having you attend the Coeur d’Alene weekend in September!

I had to ethically let my lodging go in CdA.

I could have held on to the room for ever, but given what else is happening in the City that weekend it wasn't fair on others to do so.

Health wise (mine and someone else's) it is up in the air. Also, last time I looked I am still waiting for date releases for events in Yakima and Richland in September.

Until I have those dates, irrespective of health, I can't pull a coherent plan together.

I don't currently have air fare booked. On the wider basis of the whole trip it is all very frustrating.

I haven't booked air yet, but I do have a hotel reservation (not at Greenbriar.) I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you AND to
seeing Coeur d'Alene, as it looks beautiful.

Laurie Beth, it will be great to see you again. It’s not London, but it’s a beautiful area.

We have reserved a place to stay and we will be driving.

”It’s not London, but it’s a beautiful area.”

LOL! It’s not NYC, Paris, Budapest or Venice, either! Andrea, you made me laugh!

Lol Jean. I only mentioned London because Laurie Beth and I met up there for tea a few years ago. 😉

Seven years ago on the exact weekend of the CdA meeting we went to a wedding in Missoula, MT. We flew to Spokane and when we were returning to the airport a few days later we had some time to kill. I had always wanted to see CdA so we saw a very small part of the beauty of your area. I’ve been wanting to return and I can’t think of a better reason to go.

Stuart, what are the Yakima and Richland events?

Yakima is streetcar running days- I know I lost Issaquah streetcars due to (well, factors outside my control) and got so close at Christmas to 'doing a Blackpool ' (losing the historic streetcars) In Yakima, then the City Council unexpectedly relented.
Yak was reduced to the personal stuff I have to do there, time is added back now for streetcars.

Richland is a pre Manhattan project tour, I know the Reactor tours aren"t running this year. Also, of course, Lewis and Clark stuff. I see those dates for Manhattan are finally out.

We already have a serious clash on the CdA weekend with Douglas Munro, where I need to work out how to be in 2 places at once. That does have an uneasy resolution.

Thanks, Stuart, I'll send a private message.

I too was wondering what was going on in Yakima. I lived there and in Toppenish for a number of years an it is not the usual place for overseas travelers.

Stuart, your post is absolutely impenetrable to me! As if you are speaking in a language other than English.

Well, I have been to Yakima many times, but I definitely learned something new regarding their Streetcars thanks to Stuart!

The Yakima Valley Trolleys operate on the tracks of the former Yakima Valley Transportation Company (YVT Co) in Yakima, Washington, U.S.A. The YVT is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because it is the last authentic, all-original, turn-of-the-century interurban electric railroad in the United States. The degree to which the complete YVT system has been preserved is unsurpassed.

Kim, Just before Christmas Yakima City Council, under huge budget pressures, voted to defund the streetcars. Then in February that decision was surprisingly reversed. While I didn't sit through the whole 4 hour February meeting, that decision was made primarily on the basis of they bring tourist money into the city, which will be beneficial overall to the city economy.
I have however seen a transcript of the minutes. The funding model is to be changed for the future to make the future more secure.

Issaquah had a trolley museum and working line with vehicles from Milan and Lisbon, but it didn't reopen after Covid.

Blackpool of course has modern trams, but the heritage fleet operation has been a long, sorry complicated saga. Officially that story has now ended with final closure of the depot. But it may not be, the story is still developing.

Douglas Munro is the only man ever awarded the Medal of Honor while serving in the US coastguard. His grave in Cle Elum is a National Historic Site. There is an annual ceremony in CE on the anniversary of his death each year, on 27 September.
So to someone with my overall background it is kind of important.

In a 28 to 35 day trip such things (and there are others) are each tiny moments (and there are others like them). Moments which are seemingly insignificant to others, but have a personal meaning. You can do the big money tourist things and also the little personal or the lesser known things as well.

I guess it's sort of what is meant by that vexed phrase of "travelling like a local".