Silver Mountain Resort and Waterpark in Kellogg, Idaho

Northern Idaho is a great place to visit if you're looking for scenic mountain bike trails, clean, beautiful lakes, and overall peace and quiet. But not everyone's into roughing it on an Idaho campground, or spending their vacation in a one-star hotel. If this describes you, then you might want to think about staying at the Silver Mountain Waterpark and Resort in Kellogg, Idaho.

If you visit Silver Mountain's website (www.silvermt.com), you'll be dazzled by the grandiose layout of the resort; expensive restaurants, a spa, their signature waterpark, ski paths, and miniature village. However, once you arrive, you realize it really is all that - except on a much smaller, less impressive scale. But if you're just up for a few nights in a marginal quality hotel with some waterpark fun for the kids, Silver Mountain Resort is still your best bet, as the neighboring hotels along the way were not too impressive according to the people we knew who stayed there.

When you make reservations for Silver Mountain, don't get sticker shock; they're pricey all year round. You can find monthly specials on their website, but if your family is more than four people strong, you won't qualify for any discounts. Our family of five was able to squeeze into the One Bedroom Suite, which, as you might notice from the title, really only holds one bedroom for the parents. A pullout couch comes with the room, and you can ask for a single rollaway bed (which is simply a glorified hospital cot) for the fifth person.

The bathroom situation is fairly nice, however. With two sinks, a shower, and a toilet, you pretty much have all you need to get ready in the morning, and two people can be in the bathroom getting ready at one time. Actually, we fit in more than that, but it was a little hectic! I suggest half the family eats breakfast at the faux granite counter in the kitchen, or at the dining table (which takes up quite a bit of the living room space) while the other half gets ready in the bathroom.

The kitchen has everything you need to make food or keep it cold; with a microwave, stove/oven, refrigerator/freezer, sink, and dishwasher, all the amenities you need are right in the room. You can order in pizza from the Silver Mountain village, or buy some groceries at the nearby grocery store and keep them fresh in the fridge. You don't even have to bring paper plates and silverware, as the room is equipped with these as well. Note: if you order the pizza, don't ask for taco. You won't get much in the line of toppings. Order a Canadian bacon and pineapple or meat pizza instead.

The hotel has a small DVD collection to choose from for any boring nights, which you might need, as the waterpark closes at 8:00. However, we had a great deal of difficulty getting the DVD player hooked up (and this is from an electronically-adept family), so we had to call room service in twice to get it to work properly, as they could barely figure out their own system's configuration. Basically, the moral of the story is to leave extra time for everything - room service included - and you would do well to bring one or two of your own DVDs as we did to avoid paying for expensive rentals.

As far as prices go, don't expect to get a room for any less than $150 per night. The smallest rooms might be this cheap, but the average room is $300, and rates go up on the weekend. Call back more than once to check rates, as they do fluctuate throughout the season. Get the names of the people you spoke to, and mention any discounts previous receptionists might have offered you.

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