You can count travel writer Josh Noel as another outsider who is gobsmacked by viewtiful Coeur d’Alene. Superlatives ran wild last week when Noel wrote about the Lake City for the Chicago Tribune: “Perched high in the Idaho panhandle, Coeur d’Alene is both literally and figuratively far from the places that conventional wisdom considers aspirational getaways, like, say, Martha’s Vineyard, Tahoe or Aspen. But the anonymity only feeds Coeur d’Alene’s charm; if you don’t know about it and don’t make the effort to find out, well, more for the rest of us. But once discovering Coeur d’Alene, you might wonder how you were ever so incurious about northern Idaho.” Later in the article, Noel describes meeting vacationing Kray and Pattie Hensley, of Sonoma, California, for beers at swell new pub Crafted in downtown Coeur d’Alene. The journalist asked the Hensleys whether Coeur d’Alene reminded them of “near-to-home getaway” Lake Tahoe. It did. A lot. But Kray, 71, said he’d rather be in Coeur d’Alene. His wife, Pattie, 70, agreed: “California is more built up. This feels more loose. It’s more pristine.” Noel writes that “loose” is a fair description of Coeur d’Alene. “There’s no pretense here – just a quick, seductive charm and progressive western mentality.” Progressive? Coeur d’Alene? Well, “the city by the lake” is as progressive as you can get in North Idaho/DFO, SR Sunday Huckleberries print. More here.

Question: Do you wince every time a major publication announces to their readership what a swell place Coeur d'Alene/North Idaho is?