Cooler summer locale

The older I get, the more I hate the sweltering Texas heat. To the point where I'm ready to sell our big house to split its proceeds towards a downsized Texas primary residence. Then we would use the rest of it to purchase a home to enjoy in another state. Preferably one where we can spend summers enjoying milder temps, and maybe even sneak in an occasional white Christmas. Right now, top of my second/retirement home take-a-look list is Idaho and North Carolina.

Last week we took a family trip to northern Idaho, for a look-see, and we were really impressed. No brown gumbo muddy bottom lakes up there. Or skeeters Plus the water was clear. And best of all, the temps were really pleasant. No sweating the minute you step out of the house. As a matter of fact, we didn't even have to run the AC all week in our lakefront rental. We merely opened up the windows to let in the breeze.

I didn't figure I'd get the girls on board so quickly, but they think lake life is great. We all enjoyed sightseeing at places like an alpaca farm and in the cute little shops on Main Street. The restaurant selections were varied and delicious. There were plenty of grocery stores so that we could enjoy grilling on our deck one evening. But in my opinion, the best part was the time we spent on boats really getting to enjoy the scenery and housing options. At least the husband and I. The girls resembled lounging lake lizards about half of the time.

While on the water, we spied an uh-oh in the pic below. At the bottom of a rather steep drop, looks like this truck has found its final resting place.

Castle on the lake, anyone? We saw quite a few interesting houses while puttering around taking a gander at the shoreline from our pontoon boat.

We did spend one day in Spokane, our point of arrival/departure since it's the nearest major airport. After the peace, tranquility and cleanliness of the lake towns, the girls declared it dirty and unattractive. Plus the obvious homeless issue they've got. But we did enjoy some of the shopping downtown, in addition to some comedic murals and the big red wagon in the riverfront park.

Figuring we wouldn't be as interested as we were in Coeur d'Alene, but wanting to take a look at what was on offer, we spent the day in Sandpoint (further up the Idaho panhandle) checking out Lake Pend Oreille. We were all really impressed thanks to a cute Main Street, some great restaurants, nice marina/public beach facilities and precious little Saturday farmer's market in the city park. Plus the scenery... it was even more amazing than Lake Coeur d'Alene. Too bad it's just a bit isolated for our needs since I bet there are some amazing housing deals to be had up there. It's only about an hour's drive to the Canadian border, which is kinda cool. Day trip options to Calgary!

Our rental lake house was situated at the bottom of a steep cliff, maybe 10' from the water. There were exactly 155 steps from where we parked the car to the front door. We did get to ride the tram (seen below) on our move in/out days, but the rest of the time we got in some regular cardio with the hike up and down. Good thing the views were so lovely, because we all had to take a few breaks to catch our breath on the steep stairs during the climb up to the car.

Added bonus... a fun little fireworks display every Saturday night!