I was lucky enough to go out to the states of Washington and Idaho last week on vacation.

My son Brian and his wife, Katy, live in Spokane, and we went out to have a nice family get-together. My son Scott drove up from Eugene, Ore., to be with us. Scott goes to the University of Oregon and is taking an advanced summer course in German, so he could only be with us for a few days, but it was just so nice to have the whole family together.

Once your children get older and move out, it is very hard to get everyone together in the same place, so this vacation was very important to both my wife, Bonnie, and I and to our youngest, Tayler, who does not get to see her big brothers nearly enough.

Once our plane landed, the fun began as we all piled into a Suburban that we rented for the week and set out to explore the Pacific Northwest. The family truckster, which we dubbed “The Suburban” was perfect for all of us as we could all stay together wherever we went, and that became a huge part of the fun.

Our first day we set out to the city of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, or CDA as the locals call it. CDA is a great resort town about 15 minutes from Spokane. We took a boat tour of Lake Coeur d’Alene for about three hours and saw an array of unbelievable beauty. The hills, resorts, and multi-million-dollar homes surrounded by the spectacular, clean, clear water just made you relax right away.

As we continued on the boat tour, the commentator was filling our ears with how Lewis and Clark had been through this area and how a good portion of the money derived from this incredible town was through logging and silver mining.

As the tour was coming to a close, it was incredible to see kids jumping into the water from the rocks and all the water skiers just out enjoying themselves.

Another spectacular site during this cruise was the floating green on the CDA Resort golf course. This green is out in the lake and can be moved from 75 yards to 175 yards away from the shore/golf course. It is beautiful and golfers take a small boat to finish the hole. You get two chances to land your ball on the hole and then you take a drop on the green. They say that 46,000 balls are put into the water on this hole each summer. It was very unique and quite the site to see.

One of the biggest differences between the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest has to be caffeine consumption. It seems that there is a coffee place on every corner out there. Starbucks, George’s, Tom’s, Dunn Brothers, you name it and there is a coffee place named after it.

If you are not drinking coffee on one corner, then the other corner has a wine place with a Washington state signature wine in it. It truly is a wine and coffee megastate.

On to Spokane and Gonzaga University. Gonzaga is Spokane’s true gem as the whole town has many colleges like Washington State and Eastern Washington, but Gonzaga is the local college that everyone really is in awe of. Maybe it is the basketball team that regularly makes the Sweet 16 or the fact that Bing Crosby was born on campus and was a famous alumnus.

Tayler wanted to go see Gonzaga, so we went on a tour and it is quite impressive. The law school is amazing and the basketball and baseball sports complexes were very new and nice. I am pretty sure Tayler wants to go to Gonzaga, but I am happy that is a few years away.

We also checked out a whole bunch of cool shops and restaurants while out West and found that, besides coffee and wine, Washington and Idaho have an amazing cuisine. We had a Thanksgiving turkey sandwich that had cranberries, dressing, and turkey together that was very tasty at a local bistro! We also had an unbelievable dinner at Chaps, an Old Western-themed restaurant I highly recommend. It is a bit off the beaten path, but very worth the time.

One shop really stood out for me in Spokane and that was Boo Radley’s. Being a huge fan of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” I thought that this bookstore and novelty place would be unique, and it sure was. It was the kind of place you could spend a few hours just looking, but sadly no one in my family wanted to stay in there long, so I bought a few cool mementos and went next door for an iced coffee.

So my trip out West was a very good time, and I cannot wait to return. Being with family and laughing for a whole week was definitely what I needed, and it was well-provided by Bonnie and our group of kids.

The Sparky

Hey, golfers and philanthropists, another great charity golf outing is coming up on July 23.

It is The Sparky, and it is the 34th year for this fantastic tournament.

The Sparky or the Dan Kruse Memorial Golf Classic is a great way to give back to our community as all of the proceeds benefit The Arc of Freeborn County.

I know they still have room for a few more teams, so please stop down at The Arc or at American Bank.

The Arc

407 E. William

Albert Lea

American Bank

217 S. Newton or

195 N. Broadway

Albert Lea

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer’s column appears every Thursday.