Our second adventure day was to see another mountain, this time east of Coeur d’Alene named Silver Mountain. Unfortunately, we got there and it was just like Wally World, closed. They weren’t opening the gondola rides up the mountain until the next weekend, after we were to leave. Oh well, time to improvise another adventure.
On our way to Silver Mountain, we passed Old Mission State Park, so we decided to stop and see what it was all about. This was a mission that was set up to minister to the local Native Americans in the area. This is noted as being the oldest building in Idaho, being built between 1850 and 1853 by Roman Catholic missionaries and members of the Coeur d’Alene tribe. The Sacred Heart Mission served the local community for many years and featured the chapel, the priests’ home, and a school. The school burned down in 2011.
Next door to the chapel was the house in which the priests lived. While certainly sparse by today’s standards, 150 years ago, I bet this was living pretty well. Here is a 360 view of inside the clergy house.
Back outside, being from Texas, we found it interesting that there were blue bonnets growing here on the grounds. I guess they were trying hard to make this place feel closer to heaven. 🙂
After spending the day looking for adventure, we had dinner and parted with our friend Janice for the day. I then decided to hop onto Facebook and see if there were any local birding spots. I got a reply from someone connected with the Coeur d’Alene Audubon Society who recommended we try Fernan Lake. We decide that would be our first stop of the day tomorrow prior to picking up Janice. You see, we love Janice, but she’s just not into birds. 🙂
The next day we do just that. After waking up and eating breakfast, we head out to Frenan Lake to see what it is all about. We were not disappointed. While there is public access at various points around the lake, it is also surrounded by houses and private property. Some of the houses were pretty amazing.
We found at the south end of the lake, one of the occupants was an osprey. It was there nearly every day, just waiting for us to catch it and take its photo. Karen got this one.
Spend enough time watching an osprey around water and sooner or later it is going to get something to eat. It apparently caught this small fish around the corner because I did not witness the catch, but it did honor us with this fly-by.
There were also several families of Canadian geese in the lake. We saw groups of just a few to one with about 15 little ones in tow. This is one of the families of medium size.
And what kind of birding place at a lake would it be without an appearance of a great blue heron! These huge majestic birds make flying look easy. I mean if these huge lanky things can fly, why can’t I?
Near the north end of the lake is a patch of water plants with beautiful yellow flowers. It was a very peaceful spot to relax before heading out on another day of adventure in Idaho.
And that ends part 2 of our Idaho adventure! Say tuned for part 3!
Michael
Sharing God’s Creation, One Click at a Time
All words and photos copyright 2019 MHampton Photography
Equipment used: Canon 5DS-R, Canon 1DX II, Canon T6S, and various Canon lenses and Insta360 One X
