Find Jeff and Susan

I was walking the dog this morning – a frigid but sunny day in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and I thought about all of the things I really love about living here:

• Coeur d’Alene is surrounded by national forest
• a beautiful downtown – very quaint
• it’s on Lake Coeur d’Alene
• minutes from Lake Pend Oreille
• the people here are, by and large, very friendly
• we’ve got great friends – which feel more like family
• and finally, the Kroc community center

Susan and I took a tour of the Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Center and this place is phenomenal.  From the tour, we were told the facility if approximately 120,000 square feet and is only slightly smaller than the Kroc center in San Diego.  The idea here was that the Kroc family (McDonalds founder) left a huge grant of money to specifically provide for community fitness facilities and Coeur d’Alene was fortunate enough to be one of the sites selected for a Kroc Center.  As Susan joked, the Krocs must have felt guilty for making everyone fat so they left a big chunk of change to help them get fit.  We walked into the place and were immediately greeted by a fire in the fireplace.  I had wondered where people in CdA hang out as I hadn’t yet seen a gym anywhere nearby and it’s clear they’re hanging out in the Kroc Center.  In addition to a huge swimming area, a water slide feature, rock climbing wall that goes from easy to expert, 4 basketball/volleyball courts, state of the art cardio and weight equipment, child care, theater, the place has a video and sound recording studio which we were told was going to open this February.  It seemed kind of pricey to me for both of us to have a membership but they explained that they have many different plans so anyone of any income level could participate.  Indeed, the facilities are very impressive and access to the studio alone, would be worth the price of admission.  It’s notable that all the food is cooked in their kitchen and there are no big-macs anywhere to be seen.

The Kroc Center is just one more reason to love living in the beautiful city of Coeur d’Alene.  Come on up and say hi!