The BEST 3 days in Spokane, Washington! (Hiking, FOOD, rafting, & MORE!)

After spending four months in Canada and Alaska we are back in the lower 48 and to kick off our adventures in the continental U.S. we're in Spokane, Washington. Spokane is the second largest city in Washington and is located in the eastern part of the state right on the border of Idaho and has the perfect mix of city life and tons of nature and outdoor adventures nearby. We've driven through Spokane a handful of times and we've always wanted to spend more time here so we couldn't be more excited to be partnering with Visit Spokane to spend the next three days exploring the city and surrounding area properly. We cannot wait to show you all this area and first up we're grabbing coffee from a spot we have loved on previous visits, Indaba Coffee. I have dreamt of the lemon vanilla latte since we first came here three years ago. It's so good. You would never think that lemon and a latte would be a good combination but it just works so well. It's just so sweet. It just tastes kind of like a lemon coffee dessert. And I got the butterscotch latte. Oh man that is so sweet but not overpowering. That is a butterscotch punch in the face. Like a butterbeer? Butterbeer coffee deliciousness. As we mentioned earlier Spokane is located near tons of nature including mountains, forests, rivers, and lakes and there's also lots of nature in town as well. Right now we're wandering around Riverfront Park which is located right in the heart of downtown and there's a few pretty neat things to check out here including this giant red wagon which we obviously have to slide down. Oh that's too fun. Our friends that live here in Spokane told us we have to come check out this goat sculpture and it may just look like an ordinary goat sculpture to you but it has magical powers. It's a garbage goat. So how this works is you push this button here and then you feed the goat. Throwing away trash has never been so fun. Makes you feel like a kid. Like many cities the railroad played a huge role in growing Spokane into what it is today. Right where we're standing is where the Great Northern Railroad Station used to be from the early 1900s until the 1970s when it was tore down for Expo 74 also known as the International Exposition on the Environment. The tower still stands tall today as a good reminder of Spokane's history. Hands down our favorite feature of Spokane is Spokane Falls which is a waterfall right in the middle of downtown. It's the largest urban waterfall in the United States and we absolutely love waterfalls and just seeing a waterfall in the middle of a city is just one of the coolest things ever. But the falls are more than just beautiful to look at. They also hold quite a bit of significance. For thousands of years these falls served as a sacred place and gathering place for Native Americans who come to the falls to fish for salmon and have celebrations. And in more recent years the power of the falls has been used to provide electricity via hydroelectric dams. Not only can you walk around a different viewpoints to admire the falls you can also check them out from the sky ride. Off we go. We're hanging out over Spokane Falls. Literally we're hanging. So cool. That was awesome. For lunch we came to Cochinito Taqueria which is a super cool spot with some pretty interesting tacos that we're very excited to try. We got quite the spread and we're starting with some aguas frescas This smells insanely good. It is so cheesy. There's chorizo in here too. Being from Texas we are all about the queso and I'd like to say we're queso connoisseurs and this is up there with some of the best we have ever had. It has so much flavor. So gooey and cheesy. We got a variety of tacos which are all chef made so they are beautifully crafted and they have some unique toppings on top. So I'll give you the quick rundown. These are 20 hour carne asada, pork cheek carnitas, pescado and pork belly. You got a hearty chunk of rockfish in there and it has a honey chili glaze on top and you can see the chili powder on there. Oh man that is so good. First off these are homemade corn tortillas and you can tell they look delicious and this little buddy is loaded. That pork belly is so tender and the sauces are so flavorful and then you get a crunch of the pumpkin seeds. That is honestly one of the best tacos I have ever had. That is so juicy and so tender. That is some high quality beef in there and then you have all these fresh ingredients on top that just really brighten it up. These might be street tacos but just look how much meat they load this up with. Oh yeah. Every single one of these is local homemade. We've headed about 30 minutes east of Spokane to Liberty Lake Regional Park which is where we'll be camping for the next few nights at one of their RV sites. This park is home to both Liberty Lake as well as some hiking trails and for the rest of the day we're going to hike the Liberty Lake Loop Trail which is about 8.5 miles and has about 1400 feet of elevation gain. So far the trail's been a nice walk through the forest and we've been walking along this quiet babbling little stream. We climbed a little bit and looked behind us and had a nice view of Liberty Lake. Now we're going to continue on the trail climb a little more elevation and we hear we'll run into a waterfall here pretty soon. That was a great hike and an awesome workout and we finished just in time to watch the sunset on the beach. This morning we're going to explore Manitou Park which is a free park with five gardens, a conservatory, and a duck pond and is said to be the crown jewel of Spokane City Parks. And for our first stop in the park we're at Mirror Pond to enjoy some goodies that we just picked up from Rockwood Bakery which is just a block away. We got ourselves a lemon white chocolate scone. Yeah baby. This scone is awesome. It is dense. It is moist. On the inside you have the white chocolate chunks and then on the outside this glaze here is where the lemon is. It's a perfect mix of zesty and sweet. Also got a savory treat, a ham and cheese croissant. There's tons of ham in there, tons of cheese, and the croissant is buttery flaky perfection. This park is especially known for its gardens including a rose garden, a Japanese garden, and an English garden called the Duncan Garden which is where we're walking around now. This is the most beautiful garden that we have ever been in. It is so colorful and there are so many different types of flowers and it's also very symmetrical and we met some locals and they said that every year the design of the garden changes so if you come here year after year you get a different experience each time. For our next stop in the park we're checking out the Japanese garden which symbolizes the friendship between Suocan and its sister city Nishinomiya, Japan. For our final stop in the park we're at Rose Hill which is a rose garden with 150 varieties of roses and it was actually named number one in the nation back in 2007. You could easily spend an entire day walking around Manitou Park. There's so much to see here and all the areas are a little bit different from each other but we've got to hit the road because we're going to head a little bit out of town for the rest of the day to a spot we are very excited about. We are currently heading to Mount Spokane State Park which is one of the top places we wanted to visit on this trip. It is the second largest state park in Washington and it's located about 45 minutes from Spokane in the Selkirk Mountains. Washington State Parks have a fee to visit which is $11.50 per day or you can buy the annual discover pass for $35 and you could easily spend multiple days in this park as it offers year-round activities with over a hundred miles of trails. We have two spots we want to check out in the park and first up we're going to hike to the Quartz Mountain Fire Lookout. There are a bunch of different trails in the area. Most of them connect with each other and the most straightforward way to get to the lookout is to take this forest road but we're going to kind of create our own adventure and combine a bunch of the trails and we're starting on the Bear Grass Trail. We had heard there were huckleberries along the trail to pick but we have yet to see any. We're either too late in the season or we don't know what the heck we're looking for but we're not giving up on it yet. I'm just hiking like this looking at all the bushes looking for huckleberries. So all these trail segments we've been hiking on are actually Nordic ski trails and along the way there are a few of these huts and this one is the Nova Hut. So this is a warming hut and in the winter you'd come in here make a fire have a meal and just warm up and as you can see there's still all this very festive winter decor. We actually went to a warming hut this past year in Oregon and it's so much fun so we will have to come back here in the winter time to fully take advantage of all the winter activities there are out here and to just enjoy a very nice fire. We made it! This is the Quartz Mountain Fire Lookout and what's super cool about it is that you can actually rent it and stay in it for a couple nights. We have always wanted to stay the night in a fire lookout so we're gonna have to make it happen someday. Since it is rented out right now this is as close as we're allowed to get to it but thankfully this hike is more than just about the fire lookout there are some pretty amazing views right in front of me. As you would expect with a fire lookout being here you've got sweeping views of the area there's tons of mountains tons of lakes you can see into northern Idaho the Spokane Valley and on really clear days all the way into Canada. It took us a little over three miles to get to the top but since we still have one more spot we want to check out today we're just going to take the forest road back down so we can get down a bit quicker but we'll make sure to link our all trails recording in the description below in case you want to follow our route up. We now have about a 15 minute drive up Mount Spokane to the Vista House. This house was built in the 30s using granite from the nearby hills so the hikers could admire the views and to be used as a fire lookout. Can you imagine just having a roaring fire in this awesome fireplace in here? Just like the hike the views from up here are amazing and we thought it would be the perfect spot to have a little sunset picnic. We grabbed a charcuterie board from a spot in downtown Spokane called Wanderlust Delicato. It's very windy I'm so scared the whole charcuterie board's gonna fly away but it's such a cool spot it's like a wine and cheese shop they have a bunch of goodies in there and on our charcuterie board oh no okay I saved it I saved it we have some meats some cheeses some pistachios pickles chocolate truffles and some edible flowers one of them already flew away. Not good that meat is really good whoa. I'm happy to report that we did not lose any pieces of our charcuterie board and we had the most epic sunset tonight what an end to the day. Visiting local coffee roasters is one of our favorite things to do when traveling and this morning we're at another local spot called Ladder Coffee Roasters and oh my gosh this place is so beautiful inside it's like plant goals. I got me a brown sugar and clove latte which is so spicy and delicious and then just look at how gorgeous this avocado toast is. Dang. I've got myself an americano and their delicious breakfast sandwich this thing is popping off with garlic aioli. Today's adventures are all about the Spokane River. The Spokane River runs for 111 miles from just west of Spokane to Coeur d'Alene in Idaho and today we're going to experience the river in a couple different ways and first up we're going rafting. We're going to be rafting with Wiley E. Waters on their Scenic Float down the Spokane River and we are here a bit late in the season so the water's a bit lower and calmer so it's going to be less rapidy and more leisurely but it should still be a ton of fun. We're about to go down a class two rapid a splash and giggle. So I'm gonna do this thing called riding the bull when we go over this next rapid I'm gonna sit on the front and yeehaw like I'm on a bull. This is the best seat in the house. What's really fun about rafting this time of year is that there are calm sections which are nice and relaxing but then you have the more rapid sections which are like the perfect amount of thrill. I'm gonna go for a dip. It's gonna be cold. Oh that is so cold. Just floating along. Who needs a raft? Welcome back. Way to go. That was awesome. That was awesome to have it here. That was an absolute blast. Our guide Dutch was so much fun and we also had some folks from Visit Spokane with us so we got to learn a ton about the city along the way. Whether you come in September like when we're here or earlier in the season you have to get out on the Spokane River. It is right by town but we just felt like we were many many miles away the whole time. We just had all this nature and all these trees and beautiful birds surrounding us. It was just such a fun couple hours. Before we head to our next stop to enjoy the Spokane River we came to the Flying Goat for some lunch. We started with some delicious appetizers. We got some dumplings and some wings and then we both got a pizza. On the bottom we have a gluten-free and this is a regular one. We both got it split with the Fairview and the South Hill. The South Hill has red sauce, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, shaved pecorino, and truffle oil tossed arugula but today it is spinach and the Fairview has heavy cream, house cheese blend, house back bacon, pears, gorgonzola cheese crumbles, finished with a white balsamic reduction. This one has a cool combination of tangy and sweet and then you've got the savory of the bacon here and so much cheese on there and I really like this super thin crust. It's nice and crispy. It's got a little pull to it and chew to it. My first impression of this gluten-free pizza is that the crust looks homemade. It looks so good. It doesn't look like that store-bought crust that a lot of pizza places use which is good but this looks way better. That pizza sauce is dynamite and all the toppings together kind of just make it taste like an elevated cheese pizza and as predicted this crust is so bomb. It actually feels like I'm tasting like eating a real pizza not a gluten-free one. For the rest of the day we've headed to Riverside State Park which is just a quick drive northwest of downtown and is located on the Spokane River. This is actually the largest state park in Washington and there are a couple different areas to explore but we're at the Bowling Pitcher area to hike along Trail 25 and the Centennial Trail. That is awesome. Look at that. Before we hit the trail we're checking out an overlook of Bowling Pitcher which is an area of the river that has these huge rocks jutting out of the water and rapids going through. We're a little over two miles into the hike and we just finished the Trail 25 portion of the hike which followed the river and even had some little side trails you could take to get closer to the river and we're now on the Centennial Trail which as you can see is a paved trail and it's just taking us through the forest and one really neat thing about the Centennial Trail is that it's the same trail that runs through downtown and it can take you all the way to Idaho. That state park was super gorgeous. Our hike ended up being a little over four miles and with all the miles we've hiked over the last few days I think we've earned ourselves a little ice cream treat. We came to a spot called The Scoop and I got salted caramel and pumpkin spice cookie and I have a feeling this is going to be the best combination of flavors of all time. On the bottom I also got the pumpkin spice cookie and then on top here is the banana pudding. I can see so many huge chunks of Nilla wafers. Mmm. Oh mom. As you would expect it just tastes like they took a giant banana pudding wrapped it up in ice cream. So much banana flavor. So many wafers in there. This was going to be our last stop here in Spokane but there's just so much that we have wanted to do here so we have one more spot that we're going to show y'all tomorrow morning but for now we devour this ice cream before it melts everywhere. During the summer and fall one really fun thing to do near Spokane is to check out the Green Bluff Farms. Green Bluff is a region about 30 minutes northeast of Spokane that is home to over 30 farms which grow different fruits and vegetables that you can pick or buy, have super cute stores that sell pies, jams, salsas and a variety of other products, offer pumpkin patches and Christmas trees and so much more and a couple of the farms are even harvest hosts which is a membership program for RVers where you can stay the night and we actually stayed at two different ones when we first got into town and today we're going to revisit one of our favorite farms in the area Walter's Fruit Ranch to pick some fruit. We're here in late September and there are nectarines and apples that are ripe so we're going to hop on the tractor go pick some. Fruit Loop Express! Get up on top of it up by the stem and just tenderly probe it like I'm swelling like I'm checking my nose to make sure it's not broken I don't need to push hard. If I like it I give it a tender tug if it comes off easy that's my guy. Juicy! That's a good one. Oh yeah that is so good. With these guys I like a nice candy colored red on them. What you want to do is you want to break it off the tree. You're working against the knuckle at the top of the stem and you just swing it around boom perfect stem. We're giving the early gala a try. Oh man I look perfectly firm. That is the perfect crispiness. Besides picking fruit they also have quite possibly the world's first and only pallet maize so we're gonna go see if we can find our way through it. As we learned last year when we did our first ever corn maize we're not very good at mazes. Already a dead end. We made it out! Western Washington tends to get most of the love in Washington but there are so many gems in eastern Washington and Spokane is no exception. A huge thank you to Visit Spokane for inviting us out here and helping us have the best time. We have had so much fun over the last few days. And for even more ideas on things to do in Spokane, Visit Spokane's website is a great resource and we also just published a Spokane guide on our own website with even more info about the city plus some spots that we visited off camera which we'll link to below. But from here we're going to continue our drive back down to Texas and we've decided to take a pretty random route and the next time you see us we're going to be a couple states away but we'll explain more in our next video. We've got our haul of perfect nectarine. As we've walked around this park there are tons of sprinklers so we're about to play a fun game. Can we get through this section without getting sprinkled? All right we made it. And then you feed the goat. Oh no!