The oldest standing building in Idaho

This post is about a little trip within a trip.  On my way back home from Glacier last week, I decided to stop at Old Mission State Park near Coeur D'Alene, ID.  There were three reasons I wanted to stop here.  The first was because Arika and Sheldon were on the Old Mission peninsula in Michigan the same weekend, which also has an Old Mission State Park, so there was an off chance that we both visited the same named park in the same weekend (turned out to be no).  Second was because I have an Idaho State Parks annual pass and I want to use it more so I can my money's worth before the year is over (I still have 5 trips to state parks left- so I may not actually accomplish that).  And third was because "why not?"  I was ahead of schedule for getting home, so I figured a little detour would be fine.  Despite an actual interest in the place being on the list of the reasons I stopped, it actually was a really cool place.

I learned that the Cataldo Mission Church (pictured above) is the oldest standing building in the state of Idaho.  It was pretty nifty inside.  The educational "trail" also had some pretty spectacular views of the surrounding Idaho Panhandle National Forest land.  I only spent about 20 minutes there, because I was pretty antsy to get home, so I hope one day I will get to go back and fully enjoy it.  It was a pretty cool last pit stop for my awesome weekend last weekend.

The inside was artfully crafted, despite their lack of any real tools.

It was a very hot, but beautiful day in Northern Idaho.