Camping love

I hope everyone had a fantastic Ironman weekend! I think I may have mentioned this before, but so far every year since we moved downtown, we've rented our house out for Ironman and so far (knock on wood) we've had nothing but good luck. Now it's back to the old grind even though I'm still daydreaming of long hikes, bike rides and beautiful Pend d'Oreille lake.We spent a good majority of our time at camp due to a few pretty decent rainfalls. Luckily my parents came along with their fifth-wheel so we had a nice dry spot that was a little larger than our tent. We stayed in the Waldron campground, just minutes away from Bayview. It's always so refreshing to get away from town and tune out for a while. I love Coeur d'Alene and am thankful to call myself a local, but I think it's really good for us to just check out for a while and not have to worry about work, people or technology. It was such a blessing to just be with my family and enjoy the outdoors.Sunday was the nicest day so we decided to hike up from Highpoint Trailhead and from there took the Scout Trail around for a few miles and then headed over to Buttonhook Bay. The view (see above photo) was amazing. I could see for miles and miles (channeling my inner Who) but really... it was amazing.The bathrooms were pretty clean and the showers were nice. On day three a hot shower was the best part of my day, not gonna lie. It was cold outside! My only complaint about the campground is, like most state or national parks, the sites are a little too close and because they really try to pack in the people there is very little wildlife hanging around. We were able to do something different everyday, which was great.On Saturday our friend Blake and his friend even came up and the boys all went for a long ride. I'm hoping Kyle will do a post for you soon about their adventure since I'm not much of an adrenaline junkie. Though I did try trail riding for the first time ever and think I may be hooked and need to hit up Terra for a new bike soon. I'm sure there will be a post about that experience if it happens :)Buttonhook Bay was beautiful and had overnight docks available if you want to camp on your boat. I'm hoping someday we can go back with some paddleboards and see more of the lake that way. Our little day hike to Buttonhook was really the only time I saw the water. Granted, if the weather had been better we probably would have been more adventurous.Overall it was a great trip and I would recommend it for anyone wanting to get away without going very far. I think Farragut is only about 40 minutes away, which is just right for a quick trip. If you do go, make sure to check out the Museum at the Brig which  houses the world's largest collection of  Farragut Naval Station memorabilia. We rode by it on our bikes but couldn't go in because we had Juneau and my sister's dog Olive. It looked really cool though and I'd really like to go back and check it out better.Until next time!Andy