Two Days in Spokane - Delightful Decadence
/Our arrival by bicycle in the lobby of the Historic Davenport Hotel in Spokane was just the beginning of a lovely two-day vacation (from our vacation?). I’d done my homework and we had lots to see and do while we were here. Having never been to Spokane in all our years of business and personal travel, everything was new and exciting.
Our room on the twelfth floor was absolutely lovely. It was luxurious. So what constitutes ‘luxurious’ for me? Fine, smooth linens on a comfy bed that lets you slide in under the cool sheets and cradles and relaxes every muscle in your body. Lots of soft bed pillows. Bottles of water by the bedside. A beautifully appointed room with classy furniture, wall coverings and accessories... understated and rich, but not gaudy. A huge bathroom with a rain shower, lots of plush towels, double sink with lots of room on the counter, upscale bath fixtures, a lighted mirror and beaucoup fine shampoos, lotions and... the best of all... big, plush terry robes. Heaven!
The Historic Davenport, named after its first proprietor, Louis Davenport, was built in 1914. Davenport, a businessman and entrepreneur, wanted his hotel to bring the world to Spokane and as such, different architectural styles and motifs are evident throughout the hotel. The Davenport was the first hotel in the USA with A/C and a central vac system among other things. It’s also the place where the first Crab Louis was served, named after Davenport himself. The hotel closed in 1985 and fell into disrepair. It was purchased in 2000 and the new owners spent two years and millions, restoring this ‘grand dame’ to her early glory. It reopened in 2002 and it really is a gem of a place. I’d read about a self-guided walking tour of the hotel we could take and obtained a brochure.
The Palm Court viewed from the mezzanine above
We started in the lobby and proceeded into the main dining room, an atrium affair with its two story vaulted ceiling and Spanish Renaissance style. The fireplace, a symbol of hospitality, burns year round still following Davenport’s order. We’re told that when someone in Spokane says ‘meet me at the fireplace’, they’re referring to this one.
We climbed the stairs to the mezzanine level and looked down on the grandeur below. Walking past grand ballrooms named after Queen Isabella of Spain and Marie Antoinette of France, we could imagine wealthy ladies decked out in sumptuous gowns and gentlemen in their tuxedoes, dancing to the music of the day’s best orchestras. Room after room dazzled us... the Tudor style of the Elizabethan Room, Venice recreated in the Hall of the Doges and Imperial Russia in the Grand Pennington Ballroom. As we oohed and ahhed, we joined the ranks of other guests who were hopefully just as impressed as we were like Amelia Earhart, Bing Crosby, Will Rogers and Elvis Presley... most of the 20th century Presidents, and more recently Sting, Cher and Jerry Seinfeld. We were in good company.
Enough touring, we were hungry and decided the Palm Court, that beautiful atrium restaurant we described, was the perfect setting for a romantic dinner. Because of the pandemic, tables were very well spread out, more like 12’ apart. We started with cocktails and I couldn’t resist a huckleberry martini... really, really good. We shared a Crab Louis, just because we were here and well, why not? Then salmon for our entrees accompanied by a fine, crisp Chardonnay completed a very leisurely meal. I so wanted to order dessert and in fact, I had counted on it. I should have ordered it first because when it was time to order, I couldn’t find room for another bite. There are always rain checks. We frittered away the rest of the evening chatting over a glass of wine on the rooftop terrace. The weather was perfect and the evening passed all too quickly.
A glass of wine on the rooftop terrace was a great way to end the evening.
We were ready for touring the next morning. We grabbed bagels and coffee on the run in the hotel lobby and set out on foot to Riverfront Park. We’d had a quick taste of this park when we bicycled through on our way into town on the Centennial Trail. A 100 acres of beautiful in-city park, this area was a ‘brown field, polluted by decades of railroad waste’ just 50 years ago. In 1974, it was repurposed, ameliorated and notably became the site of the 1974 World’s Fair. We picked up several walking tour brochures and a copy of the Spokane Official Visitor Guide, which by the way, is probably one of the best visitor’s guide we’ve ever used. It provided so much good information and so many options for exploring Spokane that we had to pick and choose what we could fit into our limited schedule.
Beautiful Riverfront Park, a gem in Spokane
Spokane, also known as the Lilac City, was actually named after the local Native American tribe, the Spokanes, who traditionally inhabited eastern Washington, northern Idaho and parts of Montana. They considered this river to be a sacred place.
First stop… Numerica Skyride
We opted first for a ride on the Numerica Sky Ride, a gondola cable ride over the Spokane Falls. We watched as the attendant disinfected each gondola as it was vacated and each group of customers had their own car. The ride was slow with lots of stops and because it was late summer, the Falls were less than dramatic. Still, we enjoyed an aerial view of the city as we passed over the Upper and Lower Falls and dipped under the Monroe Street Bridge.
Aerial view of the Spokane Lower Falls from the Numerica Skyride
Dipping under the Monroe Street Bridge
We walked and walked and walked. It’s a big, big park. The US Pavilion from the World’s Fair stands as the centerpiece of the park.
US Pavilion from Spokane’s 1974 World Expo
The Great Northern Clock Tower is a majestic remnant of the Great Northern rail depot. A bit of trivia: it takes a technician 99 cranks to keep the clock in the tower ticking for a week.
The Radio Flyer Red Wagon... aka ‘The Childhood Express’ is one of many sculptures in the park, but it’s also a working play structure and lots of kids were taking advantage of it.
I fed the ‘Garbage-Eating Goat’, an iconic metal sculpture that actually has a vacuum inside that sucks up whatever you feed it (within reason, of course!).
We had hoped to see (and ride) the Looff Carrousel, but due to the coronavirus, it was, like so many other attractions, closed. We were able to peek through the windows to get a glimpse of the 1909 hand-carved carrousel horses that Charles Looff gave to his daughter as a gift and who, in turn, left the carrousel to the city. Looff was a busy guy. We remembered riding the Looff Carrousel in Pawtucket, Rhode Island a few summers ago.
As we wandered, sculptures, public art and beauty met us at every turn. This is a lovely city... an outdoors kind of place. We wondered what the winters would be like.
Centennial Sculpture (1978) by Harold Balazs is aluminum and floats, tethered, in the Spokane River.
Pedestrian bridge over the Spokane River to the Island of the Salmon People
After several hours in the park, we ambled along the downtown streets. We stopped to browse at Auntie’s bookstore and window shopped at Boo Radley’s. We checked out some of the old restored buildings. The morning’s bagel and coffee were long gone and we stopped for a very late lunch/early dinner at 24 Taps, a pleasant bar/bistro with outdoor seating. When we returned to the hotel, we were ‘sightseed out’ for the day. So much to take in and so little time.
We knew we had barely touched the surface of what Spokane had to offer and wanted more, but we needed to retrace our bike route on the Centennial Trail and return to Coeur d’Alene to claim Blue.
We were up and on the trail by mid-morning. It was a cool, fine bike riding day as we traversed Riverfront Park. The trail, though we’d only ridden it once, seemed familiar... easier and less confusing on the way back. In no time, we were at the Liberty Lake exit sipping a cold draft beer at True Legends waiting to check into our hotel. Our room was ready when we arrived at the hotel and this time, we just maneuvered our bikes into the room with us. Easy-peasy. A take-out salad from the next door bistro and a bottle of cold Washington State chard from the adjoining convenience store and we were in for the night.
Anopther stop at the Washington-Idaho state line.
We made the final run to Coeur d’Alene the next morning which was not quite as easy as the previous day’s ride. This path is not entirely a rail-trail and some of the hills were 6-8-10% grades. I’m definitely improving on my shifting technique... I only derailed once. I made it up all the hills... huffing and puffing in low/low gear, but I made it nonetheless. David patiently waited at the top of the hills for me.
We were disappointed to learn on our return that Blue could not be ‘discharged from the hospital’ yet. We decided some recuperation time wasn’t actually such a bad idea and enjoyed a lazy day catching up on writing, laundry, reading and just hanging out. When we finally picked up Blue, it seemed like we’d been away for weeks, not just a few days. We loaded the bikes and all of our gear at night and planned an early getaway the next morning.
Join us next time as we continue riding the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes... all 72 miles of it... in both directions.