Coeur d' Alene Visit

I had the pleasure of visiting our north dispatch center located in beautiful Coeur d' Alene, Idaho.

Captain Gardiner and I drove up from Boise and then I flew back a few days later. The drive was pretty uneventful as we took the interstate route through Oregon and Washington. Kenyon and I have decided to plan a trip to drive up to Coeur d' Alene in June. We will take the more scenic, but slower, route on US95 that trip.
Regional Communication Center North, RCCN, is a fairly new building that was dedicated to Trooper Linda Huff. Trooper Huff was shot and killed in the line of duty in 1998.

"Shortly after 2300 hours on June 17, 1998, Idaho State Police Trooper Linda Huff arrived at Idaho State Police District I Headquarters in Coeur d’Alene. After completing some paperwork, she exited the building and encountered Scott Yager, who had come to State Police Headquarters for the purpose of murdering a police officer. After Yager fired his weapon at Trooper Huff, a gun battle ensued in which Trooper Huff was wounded numerous times in her lower body. Despite her wounds, Trooper Huff drew her pistol and returned fire, emptying her magazine and wounding Yager. Yager then shot Trooper Huff a final time, killing her. Through indomitable courage, complete disregard for her own safety, and profound concern for her fellow officers and State Police employees, Linda Huff averted a probable loss of life and injury to others in the District I office. Officer Huff’s extraordinary heroism and intrepidity at the cost of her own life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the Idaho State Police and of Idaho law enforcement officers and reflect great credit upon herself, the Idaho State Police, and Idaho law enforcement officers."

Their building is beautiful and they have newer equipment and larger locker space. I am jealous of how new and neat their center is. RCCN is also located in the same building at patrol, detectives, POST, and the crime lab. It is a really cool set up.

I was put up at The Hampton Inn and felt like royalty! It really is a great hotel. Very comfortable and they pride themselves on clean sheet and duvet covers. You see that written all over the hotel.

The funniest one was in the elevator. This is the sign located inside the elevator doors. It says "OMG, TBISC." It stands for "Oh My Gosh, This Bed Is So Clean." Quite silly for getting your point across if you ask me!

The breakfast was also quite impressive and had many healthy options. I decided to have oatmeal (un-pictured) my first day so I could have waffles my second day. Nothing beats waffles and peanut butter!

The egg thing ended up not tasting very good so I went back for a few more sausages and potatoes and some fresh fruit. The hot items were different between the two days. That is sort of cool too.

Check out the view from my window! Coeur d' Alene is just gorgeous. I took the walking trail into downtown to see The Resort and the boardwalk that goes out over the water.

The beautiful Coeur d' Alene Resort

This moose was on somebody's balcony.

I even caught the sea plane tour taking off.

My leisure walk taking photos turned into 1.5 hours and since I was meeting the Captain for dinner i had to pick up the pace. Good thing I don't walk faster then 15 mph though.

Turns out that when you get this far north, Paul Bunyan serves the best burgers. Who knew!!

My super keen eye spotted a Dutch Brothers. It turns out they missed me too.

Near our hotel was a frozen yogurt place. I just had to fulfill my other addiction.

Despite a delay of about an hour in the Spokane airport, my trip was great. It was nice to meet some of the newer staff at RCCN and see some dispatchers I have already meet. since it is National Telecommunications Week I was also able to attend a luncheon at Post Falls PD, see a K9 demonstration, and get a 10 minute chair massage.
I felt like a fish out of water dispatching for an area I am not familiar with or troopers I don't know. I still am not sure what 541 was saying that whole time! I am grateful to NOT be a trainee again! The few troopers I met from District 1 were really nice. I don't suspect I'll be moving north anytime soon though.