Full Day of Fun

Even though we have a 215 mile drive to Coeur d’Alene today, we decided to use up every minute we have at this awesome little lake and enjoy the heck out of it til checkout time at noon.  We were on the lake by 8am but the fishing was a lot slower than yesterday.  After half an hour, Mark was ahead 3 fish to my one when I insisted on going for a swim.  I hopped in the water with my floatie and decided to swim out 15 minutes and then turn around so I’d be off the water by 9am when the motor boats hit the lake.  Mark has this clever little gizmo that we use to measure the water temp of the lake and it read 72.  Mark sidelined me in the canoe while he continued fishing and kept a good eye on me and blocked me from other boats.  I was following along the bank on one side when I remembered this wasn’t too far from where we saw the otters yesterday.  When you are an endurance athlete, you have a lot of time to think and let your brain run away with itself.  At first I thought, how cool would it be to swim with otters?  I envisioned them playing around me while I swam, swirling around my body.  But then I thought, I bet otters bite if they see me as a threat to their home.  Can you imagine going to the hospital with an otter bite?  And that’s when I totally started freaking out.  I popped my head up and asked Mark how far away I was.  I was nervous that he was fishing over by their tree to bring them out thinking I wanted to swim with them.  Turns out I was farther away than I thought, but either way, I was relieved when Mark told me it was time to turn around.  I mean, disappointed and relieved at the same time.  Anyway, fully enjoyed my open water swim.

We also really wanted to squeeze in the bike ride we had planned for this town so we quickly changed into our spandex and hit the road on 2 wheels.  This was the prettiest ride we have ever done.  25 miles of rolling hills on E Chewuch Rd.  It was a minor road so not a lot of traffic, it ran through forest mostly, and paralleled a river.  There were ranches with horses and cattle.  Our only regret is not taking a single picture.  We were trying to get back in time to grab a quick shower and load up the canoe before the campground kicked us out.  As we drove through town, I insisted that Mark drop me off at Three Jacks Saloon so I could grab a few slices of carrot cake heaven to go and then we were on the road again.  We made a brief stop at the Grand Coulee Dam.  It’s the largest dam power plant in the country.  You can watch a video about it at: http://usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/history/construction/ but we won’t be able to see it until we get home because of that whole slow campground Wi-Fi deal.  By the time we got to Coeur D’Alene, it was time for dinner and bed after our day filled with adventures and sights.  With a forecast of rain all day tomorrow, we’ve planned to sleep late and catch a movie in town, Bourne.