Northern Idaho and the Palouse in Washington State

We spent Saturday, Sept. 4, along the eastern side of Flathead Lake and the night in Kalispell, Montana. As I write this (on Sept. 10), I find myself back in Montana. We encountered snow in Yellowstone and on the Beartooth Pass. But more about that later.

From Kalispell, we headed south on US 93 to Ravali, where we took Highway 200 westward into Idaho. This photo was taken just after we left Sanders Co., Idaho.

After a few photos, we were back in the car and heading toward Highway 135, which took us to I-90. Our destination was Coeur D'Alene Lake and the Scenic Byway on the eastern side of the lake. First we stopped for lunch at Sherman Junction, on Sherman Avenue in Coeur D'Alene. Really huge sandwiches for only $7-8 apiece with side! (I did not take the Tubbs Hill Challenge described in that review link.)

We had a false start on the lakeside scenic byway and took the local scenic parkway instead along the northern shore. Nice walking and bike paths. And a beautiful view of the lake.

I was interested in the Memorial Bridge we crossed when we came in on I-90 (and crossed again as we headed eastbound to the scenic byway exit).

If you decide to take the scenic byway, it's off I-90, exit 22, and here's the byway sign.

Here are some houses with nice lakeside views.

Further down the lake, we stopped to photograph some sailboats on the lake.

The wind was whipping the lake. There were storms abrewing further down the lake.

A lonely dock.

Here's the view from the passenger seat (through the windshield).

Remember that rain I told you about. Here it comes!

Rain followed us, off and on, through Idaho and into the Palouse area of Washington. We entered the state at Tekoa (without even a welcome sign) and wound our way to Steptoe. If you've never heard of this area, here's a photo showing the wheatfields shaped like sand dunes. This was once a glacial flood plane. It looked dry to us, but apparently this has been a wet spring.

Check out the wheels on that tractor! I guess that's how they are able to maneuver along those dunes.

The road to Steptoe Butte, which towers like a mountain over the Palouse area.

My hubby strolls along a path at the top of Steptoe.

And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down. Luckily, not enough to spoil the photography. It actually made for some interesting shots, I think.

More views from the butte.

The Palouse just reminded me of a crazy quilt.

As beautiful and interesting as the area was at harvest time, I'd still love to see it in springtime. Linda Lantzy's photos (especially the spring ones) are what drew me to this area in the first place.

We spent the night in Pullman, home of Washington State University, and the next day saw another beautiful site that most people who visit Washington (or even those who live nearby) never see--Palouse Falls. It was a four-hour round-trip drive westerward and would be the furthest west we went on this trip.