The Northeast Corner
Bucket List

The falls just after sunset turn the mist into something otherworldly. Monroe Street Bridge gives the classic overhead vantage; Huntington Park puts you at river level. Bring a tripod. Go without the kids. It earns a dinner after.

A 530-acre reserve of rocky outcroppings, ponderosa pines, and wildflower meadows that almost nobody knows about. Spring brings lupine and balsamroot. Hawks and songbirds year-round. The light through the pines at golden hour is genuinely special.

A clifftop estate above the Spokane River valley with sweeping views and live outdoor concerts on summer weekends. Tasting fee is minimal. Bring a blanket, pick up a bottle, and stay for the music. One of Spokane’s genuinely great date spots that locals actually use.

Five distinct gardens — Japanese, rose, perennial, formal European, and a conservatory — all free. The Japanese garden in particular is the kind of place that slows you down. Go on a weekday morning when it’s quiet, walk slowly, find a bench. A genuinely lovely few hours that costs nothing.

A 1914 grand hotel lobby that is genuinely one of the most beautiful rooms in the Pacific Northwest — chandeliers, vaulted ceilings, ornate plasterwork. You don’t need to be a guest. Walk in, sit at the bar, order a cocktail, and just exist somewhere beautiful for an hour. Dress up a little. It’s worth it.

A big cat sanctuary practically in your backyard — tigers, lions, leopards, cougars, all rescues. Small admission, completely unlike anything else in eastern Washington. Unexpectedly moving. The kind of place you’ll talk about on the drive home. Great for a low-key afternoon that doesn’t feel like a chore.

Leave at 4am. Watch the sunrise paint the rolling Palouse hills from the summit. It’s one of the most-photographed agricultural landscapes on earth for a reason, and at first light it earns every photo. Be home by noon. A perfect couples morning with a thermos of coffee.

You already have this on the list as a family day trip — but the ancient canyon walls at golden hour are a different experience entirely. Come back without the kids, stay until the light dies, and have dinner in Coulee City. The basalt columns photograph beautifully with a long lens.

The Coeur d’Alene boardwalk and city beach before 7am — mirror reflections of the mountains in still water, mist burning off the lake, virtually no one around. Completely free. One of the most underrated sunrise photography spots in the inland northwest.

The CDA Resort runs sunset dinner cruises on the lake — a few hours on the water, good food, mountain views. Not a budget item but not extravagant either. The kind of thing you’ll both remember. Worth doing once. Book ahead in summer.

18 restored wooden railway trestles and 2 tunnels carved into a cliff above Kelowna — part of the old Kettle Valley Railway. Free to hike or bike. The trestle-over-canyon compositions are genuinely stunning and endlessly photogenic. One of BC’s hidden landmarks.

A cave hot springs on the shore of Kootenay Lake — you walk through a horseshoe-shaped cave of warm mineral water and emerge into an outdoor pool with mountain views. About $20 CAD per person. Pair with Nelson for a classic overnight couples trip in the Kootenays.

The 9,000-foot peaks reflected in a still lake at first light — it’s one of the best landscape photography situations in the Pacific Northwest. Camp the night before so you’re already there. The family trip and the photography trip are two different visits. This one is hers. *State park camping fee.

The bucket list one. Moraine Lake at dawn is one of the most photographed places on earth — and it earns it. Lake Louise, Johnston Canyon, the Icefields Parkway. Budget for park pass and lodging. Go without kids, go in September when the larches turn gold, stay 3 nights minimum. Sarah will not stop shooting.

A remote mountain valley hot springs on the edge of the Arrow Lakes — two pools, forested setting, very few people. The drive through the Slocan Valley to get there is spectacular on its own. About $15 CAD to soak. Combine with an overnight in Nakusp — a genuinely lovely, overlooked Kootenay town.