The Goat Pen

I'd suggest Mt. St. Helens

Couer d'Alenne is beautiful, there's a huge lake there. Plus there's the added bonus that it's right in the sweet spot of the Idaho panhandle, i.e., the spiritual home for anti-government whack jobs. You'll feel right at home. You should also stop in Spokane (you will drive thru there anyway if you're going to Couer d'Alenne from Seattle), it's a cool town...

I said Delta fucked me over, when I was looking up flight information I noticed an email from Travelocity I received just before Xmas saying that Delta offered a credit but they should have offered me a refund and now I am eligible for a refund.

fucking Delta, not offering me a refund back when I was supposed to get it made me choose them when I had cheaper options . Now I'm flying a red-eye back to Cincinnati.

Even with that massive amount of fuckery they are still better than US Air.

Make sure to take a dip in the lake that is right beside the road after you enter the park. It's brisk...

You're playing checkers, Delta is playing chess...

hedge wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:07 pm Couer d'Alenne is beautiful, there's a huge lake there. Plus there's the added bonus that it's right in the sweet spot of the Idaho panhandle, i.e., the spiritual home for anti-government whack jobs. You'll feel right at home. You should also stop in Spokane (you will drive thru there anyway if you're going to Couer d'Alenne from Seattle), it's a cool town...

I told my wife that if we go to Idaho I'm probably going to want to move there.

There are more natural hot springs in Idaho than the rest of the country combined. Takes some hiking to get to many of them, but most are clothing optional, which, considering the crowd that usually gravitates to them, is not always that thrilling. But occasionally you get lucky...

eCat wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:11 pm

hedge wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:07 pm Couer d'Alenne is beautiful, there's a huge lake there. Plus there's the added bonus that it's right in the sweet spot of the Idaho panhandle, i.e., the spiritual home for anti-government whack jobs. You'll feel right at home. You should also stop in Spokane (you will drive thru there anyway if you're going to Couer d'Alenne from Seattle), it's a cool town...

I told my wife that if we go to Idaho I'm probably going to want to move there.

GO!

I rented a place for 3 nights in Couer D' Alene and then 3 nights in Whitefish so I should be good

between now and then I'll start looking up hiking trails

See if there are any hot springs around there..

Been to Coer d'Alene, but not Whitefish. That's a more than 5 hour drive from Seattle to there and then another long drive to Whitefish. Back then the puddle jumper from Seattle to Spokane was pretty cheap. It may be worth it to save some time driving and not deal with Seattle traffic getting out.

You probably wont want to stay in Coer d' Alene. The real estate prices are pretty high, but it's a good visit.

You can drive thru the wine country in eastern Washington. Get the wife tipsy, might get lucky...

sardis wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 5:00 pm Been to Coer d'Alene, but not Whitefish. That's a more than 5 hour drive from Seattle to there and then another long drive to Whitefish. Back then the puddle jumper from Seattle to Spokane was pretty cheap. It may be worth it to save some time driving and not deal with Seattle traffic getting out.

You probably wont want to stay in Coer d' Alene. The real estate prices are pretty high, but it's a good visit.

I'm renting at pandemic prices right now. I actually love driving in areas I've never been before. Its doesn't bother me to go places 4 or 5 hours away.

I wish you would go 4 or 5 hours away.

5 hours is the norm out there. Nice country though, so it's not really burden but rather part of the vacation. Unlike, say, driving down I95 from Philadelphia to Daytona Beach, with the only point of interest being South of the Border...

Can't stand 95.

Auto-drive cars will take some of the monotony out of intertate driving, but we'll all be 90 years old by the time it's really viable, so watching porn won't even be an option by then...

I hope that I'll still be viable enough to have an autonomous car for 5-10 years

and I can afford one.

I'll probably still be driving my '91 Toyota causing traffic jams because the autobots can't tell my car to get out of the way

eCat wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 1:55 pm I rented a place for 3 nights in Couer D' Alene and then 3 nights in Whitefish so I should be good

between now and then I'll start looking up hiking trails

Nice to know you. I sense you are going to end up in a pile of grizzly shit. Be sure to wear a GoPro so you'll be famous when you're dead

I've been hiking in Banff. We've run across black bears but never a grizzly.

When I bought bear spray the woman at the counter said "you should only use this once, then throw it away and buy a new one"

I was told her, look if I use this once, I can promise you I'll never buy another one again.

We ended up hiking with a couple . The guy attached a cheap AM radio to his backpack that was just playing whatever station he could find as a noise maker while we hiked. I thought that was smart so I'll be doing that.