Day 108 - Dry Falls State Park, WA & Coeur d'Alene, ID

We are both coffee fans probably too much so as it is a struggle in the morning when a cup of it is not on hand to wake us both up. We'd seen so many roadside coffee huts, the majority of them looking like garden sheds you can drive up to and grab a morning brew and we knew we had to try it out! We chose a hut we liked the look of, drove up to the window and ordered two coffee refills. The coffee was cheap, only a couple of bucks, but it was good! All the coffee we have had in Washington has been good, most of it has been locally roasted and the number of independent sellers far outweighs the chains even with Seattle being Starbucks' home town. The little coffee shop we chose also had a picnic area so rather than rush off, we decided to sip our coffee in the sun and plan the day ahead.

Today we were heading east through Washington and to the Idaho border where we were staying in a campsite next to Lake Coeur d'Alene.

During our time in Washington, we learnt that this state is the Apple Capital of the US. It grows on average 125 million boxes of apples per year in about 175,000 acres of apple orchards meaning that 6 out of 10 apples consumed in the US are grown in Washington. We were not surprised when we finally started to drive through some of these apple orchards and saw the boxes stacked up and ready for the picking season.

The smoke we saw in Seattle was still impacting our views and the air had an unpleasant smoke smell to it leading to us relying on the air-conditioning rather than opening windows. We expected California to be on fire in August, it is every year but we didn't realise how many other western states also suffered each year. The news outlets seem to always focus on California, missing out other states where fires have just as much, if not more impact on the people, industry and the countryside.

Our first stop for the day was at Dry Falls State Park, the site of what was the largest waterfall in the World. During the last Ice Age, there was a huge flood (known as the Missoula Floods) which resulted in a huge amount of water flowing across the western side of the US and formed this huge waterfall. The waterfall is now dry with only fall ponds at the bottom of the falls where the plunge pool once was.

The park had a visitors center with a video and information stations explaining what happened during the floods and how scientists pieced all the evidence together to work out what happened. It was really interesting although maybe a little too detailed for a flying visit. Entry to the visitors center and to the viewing area for the falls was completely free, perfect for a one hour stop to break up the long journey.

We crossed the border into Idaho and not long after the state line, we reached our destination for the night Camp Coeur d'Alene located just opposite lake Coeur d'Alene. We had a lovely campsite right next to the pond and with such good amenities and facilities, we decided we didn't need to leave the campsite, we have plenty to do and to see right on our doorstep. We enjoyed this campsite so much, we did a special feature in our video.