The entrance to the Coeur
d'Alene Resort had a nice Halloween Display as it was October.
The Coeur d'Alene lobby
has this cool fish tank with large koi.
We got to the resort early, and since our room was not ready yet, we took a stroll on the world's largest floating boardwalk at the resort.
Lake Coeur d'Alene made a great backdrop for this selfie!
The lake was pretty calm as we continued our walk on the floating boardwalk.
This is the marina at the resort with the hotel in the background.
The lake was absolutely gorgeous on this crisp fall day! Actually, it was fairly warm that day too.
We headed to town after our stroll on the boardwalk for lunch. This was a cool historic building in downtown.
Since the sushi restaurant was not open yet, I got dessert first. LOL. Bear Paw Cookies mades everything homemade including their ice cream!
They made this waffle bowl fresh for me too. I went with huckleberry cheesecake ice cream. They always put their signature "Teddy Grahams" on top too.
At one of the gift shops, we saw they were selling Trump wine! So, we had to get a bottle for the wine fridge at home. We love President Trump!
We saw a cool car parade of conservative candidates and values! I loved this Joe Biden Sucks flag! Let's Go Brandon!
After lunch, we went hiking on Tubb's Hill near the resort.
Joy is posing here with the lake in the background.
We hiked down to the lake level.
Tubb's Hill provides for amazing views of the lake.
Up these stairs by the cascading waterfall is the spa at the Coeur d'Alene Resort.
After getting checked in by an attractive hostess at the spa and given my warm robe and slippers, I helped myself to the beverage bar.
I love the COED relaxation room at this spa before and after massage treatments.
I love the view of the lake from the relaxation room. Oh, I was able to bill this massage to my company since I get a generous wellness allowance from them! I love biotech!
I got ready for the whiskey dinner after my massage. I looked damn good!
Joy and I are waiting for the shuttle over to the Coeur d'Alene Golf Club for the Grand Whiskey Dinner! We look good!
This was a great backdrop for a picture at the Hagadone Events Center at the golf club. Maker's Mark sponsored the event.
The Hagadone Center was amazing! It is right on the lake too. A band was playing as we got there too.
We could not resist a selfie with that lake behind us.
The sunset over the lake was beautiful!
The dinner started off with two appetizer pairings with a specialty bourbon cocktail. The first one was grilled octopus with a mezcal and Maker's Mark refreshing cocktail.
The mixologist is making my mezcal and Maker's cocktail here.
Joy and I are getting our next cocktail-appetizer pairing here which was a barbacoa mini tostada with a smokey flavored cocktail.
For this cocktail, they took the grease from the brisket and infused it into the Maker's Mark to create a very smokey bourbon.
Here is the complete pairing of the cocktail with the barbacoa appetizer! They went very well together.
They had a guy who was hand rolling cigars also.
I loved the freshly shucked oysters. There were two other kinds of oysters too.
This was the carving station. Did I mention this was a six course dinner!
Moreover, they had two kinds of lamb also!
We enjoyed breakfast at Dockside on Sunday. They have the cool iPad menus.
I did not know they still had Sunday papers! LOL. It was cool reading the comics and checking the ads like I did when I was a kid.
We enjoyed a flight of Mimosas including huckleberry and mango. The huckleberry pancakes were great!
Joy and I went to the Vault Coffeehouse after breakfast for our morning jolt of energy afterwards. I tried their seasonal sampler.
This was funny! I saw this note at the Starbucks inside Spokane Airport. Let's Go Brandon! LOL. That means "F Joe Biden."
When the Coeur d'Alene Resort emailed me earlier in 2021 about their Whiskey Weekend in October, I decided that I had to attend this cool event! Maker's Mark was the main sponsor of this weekend, and the final event was a six course Southern inspired dinner at the beautiful Hagadone Center at the Coeur d'Alene Golf Club which is right on the lake. We flew out on a Friday evening to Spokane via Denver for this experience. Since we got in late into Spokane Airport (GEG), I booked the Springhill Suites by Marriott which was right across from the baggage claim at the airport. We were able to just walk across the street to our hotel. I used my BonVoy points from all the business traveling I was done with my new position in biotech. I was a little worried about Washington State since their idiot Governor still kept the COVID restrictions including the mask requirements for indoor locations, but I saw that the people in Eastern Washington were giving him the finger like most of rural California was giving the finger to the liberals. We were able to check into the hotel with no mask, and there was no request for anyone to mask even at breakfast the next morning.
After breakfast at the hotel, we picked up the rental car at Budget across the street. My car was waiting underneath the canopy as I am a Fastbreak member, and we departed for Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. We did find a Dutch Bros for some coffee before we headed out for the forty minute drive to Idaho. The weather was beautiful with mild temperatures and sun!
Once we arrived at the Coeur d'Alene, the valet took our rental car, and we headed inside to check in. We got our tickets for the dinner from the front desk, and although our room was not quite ready, they said they were expediate our check in so we would have our room way before the 3:00 normal check in. Since we had some time to kill, Joy and I took a nice walk on the world's longest floating boardwalk at the resort. This boardwalk floats over the lake, and there is a cool tower that one climbs over where the boats pass into their marina. The lake was very calm and peaceful. Joy and I loved our walk, and we got majestic views of the lake and mountains.
After our walk, we headed to downtown to get lunch at a sushi place we had tried last time we were here. However, it was not open yet so I got dessert at Bear Paw Cookies. Everything there is homemade even the ice cream! So, I had to get the huckleberry cheesecake flavor ice cream in a freshly made waffle bowl! Then, we checked out some of the mom and pop gift shops. I found a bottle of President Trump's winery cabernet so I decided to get it for our wine collection at home. President Trump is a hero for me since he rescued our nation from the perils of the socialism that his predecessor wanted. Speaking of that, they had a nice conservative car parade where there were slogans like no mandates referring to vaccines or masks. Idaho was still 100% free of mask mandates! I even saw a Joe Biden Sucks flag. LOL. Biden is a piece of shit!
We enjoyed a nice sushi lunch in downtown once they opened. The fish is surprisingly fresh for being so far inland. Afterwards, we went for a hike on Tubb's Hill. The people in Idaho are much nicer than California. People greet one another when one passes someone. Also, I saw cool t shirts like "Go Back To California" or "I am not a Sheep" on them. Fuck the liberals! We need to stand up for our FREEDOMS! The people in Idaho seemed like they were very happy people compared to the liberals in the Covid mandate areas of the left coast. Joy and I hiked for a long time, and we even made our way down to the lake level.
I had a nice massage scheduled at the spa after our hike. Once I checked in, a cute attendant checked me into the men's locker room. She gave me a warmed robe and slippers and showed me to my locker. This time around, the spa was fully operational with a suana and a beverage bar unlike back in December when we were at the resort for a big New Year's party. After getting into my robe, I made my way to the beverage bar for some tea. Then, I went to the COED relaxation room which overlooks the lake, and I just relaxed on the couches. My therapist collected me at the relaxation room. She was very good! We started off with aromatherapy, and I picked a woodsy scent. She made me take some deep breathes in and out before we began. I was very relaxed afterwards. After the massage, I relaxed in the relaxation room and the suana before showering to get ready for the Grand Whiskey Dinner! The best part was that I was able to expense this massage since my biotech company is so GENEROUS and gives us a fat allowance for wellness which we are able to use for massages, golf green fees, etc.
The resort took us to the event via luxury shuttles. We had a large crowd going there, but the resort was busy with lots of other events like weddings and a bachelor party. Idaho was fully open for business! Fuck the liberals! They want to keep this COVID bull shit going longer than they need to. The shuttle drive over to the Coeur d'Alene Golf Club was about ten minutes. The golf club was amazing! After entering the gated exclusive club, we were driven to the Hagadone Events Center which is next to the lake. Once we got off the bus, we could see the Maker's Mark bottles all over to welcome us.
A security guard and a few hostesses greeted us and checked us in. We were able to pose for pictures by the banner. Afterwards, we could amazing views of the lake as the band began to play. The sunset over the lake was beautiful! The six course dinner even had two appetizer-cocktail pairings that were included! The first pairing was grilled octopus with a mezcal inspired Maker's Mark cocktail. The refreshing drink complimented the octopus well! Afterwards, we tried the barbacoa appetizer with a smokey bourbon cocktail which had Maker's Mark infused with the grease from smoked brisket! The flavor was amazing!
The dinner was sold out, and we loved seeing all the unmasked folks dine indoors and enjoy themselves! Joy and I went around the different food stations which included three kinds of oysters, two kinds of lamb, beer cheese mac and cheese, and other meats which were carved. The desserts were amazing too! We had two other couples at our table, and we enjoyed our conversation with the couple from Spokane who were against all the COVID bull shit also. There was never a need to mask, and now since we are vaccinated, there is definintely NO reason to mask. Liberals are idiots!
On Sunday, we enjoyed breakfast at the Dockside restaurant at the resort. After having a flight of mimosas and huckleberry pancakes, we headed out to our favorite coffeeshop in town for a flight of their seasonal drinks over ice. The weather was brisk in the morning, but we enjoyed our walk through town! Idaho is an amazing place.