The plan in Spokane

The best made plans sometimes don't work out. : ( We had done our homework, figuring out what we wanted to see, even printing out a Yahoo map with all the places marked. First stop was Marvin Carr's Museum, where you could sit in a car owned by JFK, Elvis or Jackie Gleason. The doors were locked and no one was around. Strike one.

Our second destination was Bing Crosby's boyhood home and we were delighted that 1) it was open, 2) it was free and 3) there were parking spots! Most of you younger folks are not acquainted with Bing Crosby, but those of us in the "slightly older"generation (term used very loosely) can remember him in films and for his melodic voice. I loved his songs as a teenager, even though he was more my parent's generation.

A picture of Bing sits on the mantel in the living room.
Jerry, Sandy and Sherry tour the dining area. The home was built in 1910. It has two full baths, which are original to the house, very unusual for the 1930's and 40's. The house now backs right up to Gonzanga University, with only parking lots as separation.

Below is a picture of St. Aloysius Catholic Church. The steeples can be seen from Bing's boyhood home.

The next planned stop was to see Spokane Falls, located in downtown Spokane. The whole area by the falls was under construction and the river was low. The falls were not impressive at all, thus not worthy of a picture on the blog! Sherry had found a train that ran from this area, except that it only ran through the Labor Day weekend. We were one day late. Second strike.

I did get a few pictures of a fountain and....

a humongous Radio Flyer wagon! This could hold a lot of kids! The hardest part would be finding something to pull it. Maybe Clifford, the Big Red Dog!

I don't know whether these guys are howling or trying to sing. Maybe it is just a bad case of indigestion. I'll never know.
We tried to find a neighborhood with gardens indicative of Spokane in earlier times. It was also mentioned as a place to see in one of the visitor brochures. Strike three. By chance we found a perfect viewing spot of downtown Spokane.
Gary shuffled closer to the edge as Sherry warned him to be careful.
And then Jerry came along to give him a little nudge. That got his attention!
Lunch was at Picabu, one of the restaurants featured on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" earlier in the year. Did you ever notice that we have the time to track down these types of things?
After lunch we needed to walk off some of the calories we had consumed. Not far away was Manito Park that has many types of gardens. The Duncan Garden, built in 1912, was designed in a classical European Renaissance style. It covers 3 acres of manicured turf and annual bedding flowers. At this time of year there were beds of Cosmos, Snapdragons, Petunias, Marigolds, Geraniums and other various flowers. No wonder many weddings are held here.
Behind the Duncan Garden was the Gaiser Conservatory that houses a waterfall, pond and hundreds of beautiful tropical plants. Wish I could tell you what this flower is called, but I was so engrossed in getting a good picture that I forgot to look at the label. The blossom was huge.
From there we walked to the Rose Hill garden, developed in the late 1940s. It holds 150 varieties of roses, from miniature rose to old fashioned ones.
Jerry, Sandy and Don were ahead of me, smelling the fragrance as they sauntered through the gardens. It was in the low 100's that day, so we didn't stay very long.
The last garden we walked through was the Nishinomiya Japanese Garden. The garden was a cool respite from the hot sun's rays. In 2008, it was ranked 16th on the list of more than 300 public Japanese Gardens. The Red Japanese Maple was a stark contrast among all the other greenery.

All in all, we did have a good day. We knew a little more about Spokane than when we got here, had a great meal and got exercise in some lovely gardens. I never complained once about being surrounded by lots of flowers!