Between Walla Walla, Washington and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho the scenery at this time of year consists of a monotony of wheat and barley fields. For almost 200 miles we felt as if we were in the spice deserts of Dune, with interesting angles and intersections and shapes of fields, but nothing but yellow grain as far as we could see, except for occasional small oases of trees and green fields. We think of Washington as lush and covered with trees, but that's the western side of the coastal range.
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Coeur d'Alene is a beauty. It's right on a mountain lake. Somebody put a lot of effort into making the downtown pretty. Manicured green lawns, flowers, and trees, all well cared for. There's a wonderful marina, just off the shopping district, that you can walk around.
The people look like a healthy lot. Lots of runners and bicyclists. There are two or three colleges in town, so the residents are on the young side. It's very noticeable in both Walla Walla and Coeur d'Alene that drivers have an attitude different from what we're used to in California; they stop for pedestrians even when they don't have to. Nobody seems to be in a big rush. They tolerate outsiders who are clueless about which direction to turn.
We were there in Coeur d'Alene the day before Nancy's birthday and came across The Grill from Ipanema - a churrascaria (a Brazilian steakhouse). We'd eaten at one of those on a cruise ship and loved it. Although we don't plan to go to many restaurants on our trip, this was something we couldn't pass up. The waiter brings by one meat course after another on a vertical skewer and either carves a chunk for us or slides pieces down. It's a fun way to celebrate getting older.
If it isn't obvious, Nancy and I liked Coeur d'Alene a bunch. We could envision living there someday, if we ever leave Santa Cruz. A downside is that winters can be rough. There was also some haze in the air that made the distant views a little less spectacular, and we never asked the locals whether that's a chronic condition.
From Coeur d'Alene we drove up to Missoula, Montana. We'd read a lot of good things about this city and had thought that it was a possibility for future residence. It's in a pretty natural setting, but the streets were too wide and busy, even in Old Town, for it to have the charm that Walla Walla, Coeur d'Alene, and Santa Cruz have. There's a nice University of Montana campus that we explored a bit. It had a wonderful academic feel to it. One thing we noticed that was that it was sadly lacking in diversity. We saw almost no African-Americans or Latinos, and even Asians were poorly represented. This was not Stanford North.
We had a great birthday appetizer course at the Red Bird Restaurant in Missoula, a beautiful wine bar downtown. The waiter, an honest sort, didn't recommend the local wines, but he steered us to a fondue course that was sensational. So we had a great time in Missoula, but it plummeted in the future home rankings.
Our next stop is Whitefish, Montana, just outside Glacier National Park. We've been anticipating an exploration of that area for years.
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