Sandpoint, ID July 14-17, 2019 Not long enough!

Pics coming soon:

July 17, 2019

Today we had to leave Sandpoint, ID. It reminds me of how much I didn’t want to leave Newport, OR the first time we discovered that a few years ago.  I plan to come here every single year hopefully in July after the 4^th crowds and stay 2-3 weeks.  I’d stay longer, but work schedules dictate us getting back to Newport by the first of August.  It probably realistically takes 2 days of travel to get to Newport from here.  One of my friends moved here about 6 weeks ago and so I wanted to see her hometown since we were enroute to OR from SD.  She had been telling me about Sandpoint for years so I was excited to finally get there and check it out.  We both sold our houses about 2 weeks apart.  She grew up in Sandpoint and got to show me all the places that were part of her life.  I got to see her new temporary home until they buy or build again.  I saw her schools, favorite restaurants, and more on a little driving tour she gave me.  Her girls are 2, 5, 7 now so it was fun to see them again briefly.  We walked over 5 miles on a trail then had lunch and ice cream at a place similar to Salt and Straw in Portland.

 I was able to spend a few hours at the Starbucks on the water getting some of my work done.  That was a treat. For some reason, the Starbucks in South Dakota were dirty and unlike any I had frequented before.  This one was clean and had a killer view. Everyone we talked to was nice including locals and tourists.  We stayed at the Best Western Edgewater hotel RV lot.  It was small and had loud trains going by our RV about 60 times a day, but the location was one of the best ever.  The RV would shake every time the trains went by which was pretty funny.  Both the dogs and cat were fine for some reason.  Mike and I took the 5.5 mile walk on our last day after wearing out the hounds a bit.  I would bike here probably 20 miles daily if I lived here.  They have paths everywhere and the lake is huge and beautiful.  It sort of reminded me of Lake Tahoe without the pine smell being as obvious. I like the pine smell and it makes me want to go to Tahoe now.  So after 3 nights and 2 full days in Sandpoint, we had to leave L.  I’m disappointed that we had to go, but happy I found a new place that I plan to stay every year.