Living in Spokane

Hi all,

On the weekend we moved from the comforts of Phil's grandma's place in Coeur D'Alene and relocated to our new place on the South Hill of Spokane.

We have somehow already accumulated a lot of stuff to fill our one bedroom apartment with. It is amazing how fast one can get stuff. A lot of it has been acquired through trawling through thrift stores and clearances at department stores. The place isn't the Ritz but should do nicely for the time we spend there.

People are very friendly here. We have met the other tenants already - it generally would take months or years to do that in Sydney! And we also have discovered a friend from church lives across the street with his family. While moving things in from the car we were quickly invited into their place for a drink. It is nice to feel like part of the neighbourhood already.

Phil has been continuing to work. He is very happy that he now only has a 10 minute bus ride to work. Fi hasn't had any luck with jobs so far. One of the interviews last week turned out to be more of a recruiting thing than an actual job which was slightly frustrating. The other was for a temping agency which could be good if they can find her an assignment.

The tourist attractions for us have consisted of:

Car D'Alene - an event in downtown Coeur D'Alene which attracts 800 vintage cars that cruise the main strip for 3 hours. It was pretty amazing to see all this old cars, each completely unique. Some were hotted up with hydrolics and flames etc. We watched for a while but the fumes eventually become a little too much!

Pot-luck at Twin Lake - Cheryl (Phil's aunt) invited us to her home group's pot-luck dinner at one of the couple's places. It is amazing. Overlooking this beautiful lake surrounded by pine forests. It was fun to chat to these slightly older people and the food was unusual but good. Consisted of grilled chicken (they love to grill here in the summer), potato salad, home-made bread, vegies with ranch dressing, a fruit salad with caramel (this was part of the main!) and then to finish home-made smores (as in it was 100% homemade biscuit and marshmellow etc!)

Coeur D'Alene Wine Cellars Garden Party - again Cheryl to an event. This time at a house overlooking Lake Hayden. It was beautiful. Had a wandering garden, chickens, bee hives, vegetable garden etc etc. There was ample food and wine. This was the first time we would try smores. Amazing.