Saturday, October 9, 2010

A Two-Hour Cruise

On their last day in Coeur D'Alene, the Bag Lady and her party had booked passage on the last dinner cruise of the season on the lake.


The day dawned damp, dismal and dark. The Bag Lady and the Rancher went on a little tour of the city. At one point, they sat in their vehicle in the parking lot of a collection of stores, the rain pouring down so hard that it was almost impossible to see!

Once the storm passed, they went for a walk along the shore.


Several hardy souls were out jogging, walking and generally taking the fresh air. There is a lovely park there, filled with enormous old trees.

There is a boardwalk surrounding the Coeur D'Alene Resort, built over the water.


There is even a little bridge, allowing motorboats to access the harbour.



While the Rancher and the Bag Lady were on the bridge, admiring the view, a pair of Canada Geese flew in, honking in that distinctive way that says "I'm landing, what about you?" The Bag Lady watched as they appeared to be preparing to land on the resort hotel, then changed their minds and flew past. She and the Rancher commented on their strange antics, and were amazed a few minutes later when the geese came back and actually landed on a balcony of the hotel! Neither of them had ever seen a goose land on a building (of course, where they live, there are no tall buildings for geese to land, so, for all they know, geese in the southern parts all live in resort hotels, and only live on ponds while on summer vacation in Canada much like humans, roughing it at the cottage.)


This is the resort hotel (where the geese live)


The weather stayed relatively decent (didn't snow, which for Canadians is still summer) so the dinner cruise was not cancelled. The meal was very good, and after they ate, the Bag Lady's party spent most of the rest of the cruise on the open top deck, enjoying the view.


There was a bald eagle perched on a piling sticking out of the water quite a distance away from the Bag Lady (hence the rather blurry photo)



The Coast Guard managed to get us around the lake and back again to dry land within the two hours allotted for the cruise.

(And yes, the Bag Lady was humming the theme from "Gilligan's Island" while they waited to board. She's old now, but wasn't one of the lines in the song something about a two-hour cruise? Or was it three? Crap, she can't remember.)

14 comments:

Leah J. Utas said...

Thanks for the tour. It looked like a lot of fun. I'd never suspect geese would land on a building, but you're probably right about them spending their winters at a resort.
Gilligan was on a three hour tour. You escaped by the skin of your teeth on that one.

Reb said...

Lovely tour Sis! I really like the shot along the shore. Very funny about the geese, I wonder if that's why the ones we have here in Edm stay all year round? Yep, three hours, just missed that fate ;)

Hilary said...

Whew, saved by an hour. Thanks a LOT for putting that theme song inside of my head now. Very cool to see the geese landing where they did and always a kick to see a bald eagle. Sounds like you had fun despite the weather.

"The weather started getting rough. The tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew. The Minnow would be lost.. the Minnow would be lost"

messymimi said...

Of course all the cultured geese live at resorts. With new tourists every week, think of how easy it is to con people into feeding you!LOL

Dawn said...

Heck, don't check in for a week and you're off on holiday! Thoroughly deserved, Baggie.

I loved your geese holidaying at resorts but what I loved most was this.

"The weather stayed relatively decent (didn't snow, which for Canadians is still summer)"!!!

solarity said...

A nice tour. I especially like the shot along the bridge, where the blue-roofed boats and the red flowers frame the grey water and the grey sky.

Mary Anne in Kentucky

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

Looks like you had a great time. Smart geese, to get lodging at a resort hotel. I would do the same.

the Bag Lady said...

dfLeah - whew! Some of my travelling companions were not amused by my humming the song!

Thanks, sis. I can hear geese honking overhead right now - wonder if they are planning which resort to visit down south!

Oops, sorry Hil! It was cool to see the geese land there - someone obviously had been feeding them. They did appear to be eating up there on that ledge.

messymimi - I guess I hadn't realized how clever geese can be! Of course, there are lots of Canadian humans who go south to resorts in the winter. Why shouldn't the geese?

Dawn - *chuckle* - unfortunately, it's the truth! We Canadians were practically the only people up on the top deck after supper (not counting the young people necking in the back corner.)

Mary Anne in Kentucky - I, too, loved that shot - the colours were so pretty (and elsewhere, things were very much monochromatically grey.)

BG - it was definitely clever of those geese! And really surprised us "country folk".

Anonymous said...

Well, if I was a goose, I'd be more than happy to spent my winter at the resort!

the Bag Lady said...

kcinnova - absolutely! I'm not a goose and I still wouldn't mind spending the winter at a resort.

Sagan said...

How nice!

Love storms.

David Cranmer said...

Great tour that placed me there with the sharp photos. Thanks.

Levi said...

It was 3 hours but I think it turned into a 3 year cruise.

the Bag Lady said...

Thanks, Sagan!

David - glad you enjoyed it.

Janell - I couldn't remember how many hours their cruise was - I'm just darned glad we didn't end up stuck on an island with Gilligan!