[AXOmom]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

I will give you suburbs and 18 miles, but that is with some very blurred lines. From downtown Spokane proper, say the intersection of Division and Sprague the center point of what defines NSEW of streets, to Sherman and Northwest aka the Coeur d'Alene Resort same defining point for streets, is over 30 miles driving I-90. Though we joke that Idaho has two capitals, Spokane and Salt lake City, and that people in North Idaho relate more to Spokane and Eastern Washington, often we relate to Montana more than E. Washington.

Hayden and Hayden Lake are pretty much connected with Coeur d'Alene as there is not a lot of open space when one drives US 95 north. However the people can be quite different, with Coeur d'Alene having many in movers from California, and it causes quite a lot of tension at times. I know people who are from or identify as being from Hayden and they were white, but were Idaho born and not part of the haters. The Aryan Nation were also in movers from Southern California in the 1970s, and like many people in the region who have garnered attention, the attitude here is quite libertarian and what you do on your land is your own business until it effects other people. The area is still very white, so white it is one of the whitest communities in the USA, and was featured in a book Searching for Whitopia, which is actually a quite interesting read.

The area is beautiful and a great resort and all year town. Their Costco also has a real good cheese and wine selection, just saying.

I didn’t intend to be snarky about the distance thing – sorry if it came across that way- that was a poke at CDA because I know being referred to as a Spokane suburb annoys the crap out of them.

For the record, 18 miles is the distance listed by distance-calculator, and it measures from city limit to city limit on I-90. It probably is 30 miles from downtown to downtown (as a note, while I am directionally challenged, I’m pretty well aware that Sprague and Division divide Spokane into directional quadrants. After 11 years it would have been hard not to notice that – even for me).

I will say that I could make it from my home in unincorporated NW Spokane County, a ½ mile beyond the Y, to CDA in 45 minutes flat which included several lights and two lane roads. Of course, I had a lead foot and a back route that avoided most of I-90.

I’m not sure if the second paragraph was intended for me or if it was meant as general information, but I’ll respond anyway. I moved to Spokane in 1996 and we left in 2007, so we watched the rise and demise of the Aryan Nations up close. I felt I knew the culture of the area pretty well by the time we left (noticed that overwhelmingly white thing about the same time I picked up on the Division and Sprague thing – clearly I have lightening quick powers of observation ).

I concur with the majority of your assessment. The one point I would qualify would be the relationship between Coeur D’Alene and Hayden Lake. It is entirely possible that despite my previously noted powers of observation , this went right passed me, but If there was an enormous amount of tension between the communities or extreme differences, I can’t say we noticed it, and I didn’t hear it mentioned by the people I knew who lived there- not that they would have had a reason to mention it.

Most of the tension we noticed was, of course, between the Aryan Nations when they were there, and everyone one else around them including the majority of Hayden Lake residents. After they left, any tension seemed to be the typical amount that exists between a city/town and its outlying communities.

I would say that while there are certainly some differences between CDA and the rest of, well, Idaho, eastern Washington, and Montana because CDA is more liberal in its politics and outlook than the communities around it (possible exception – Sand Point), I wouldn’t describe those differences as large. It could be that due to their size, we just didn’t pay much attention (kind of the same situation Spokane has with Seattle only in reverse), and perhaps they in fact see themselves as quite different from Hayden Lake and the rest of the area. Anyway, it's interesting to hear another view point.

As far as the capital goes - if it’s a choice between Spokane and Salt Lake City – don’t think twice – choose Spokane. Didn't know we were competing with Salt Lake. We knew we had Boise beat even though they were technically Idaho's capital. Loved that. Always considered ourselves very in sync with Montana, so I don’t think that would be an issue. We really assumed we should be their capital too – hence the whole Inland Empire title.

I’ll have to trust you on the Costco thing. Never had a reason to go to the one in CDA.