Clark Fork to Sand Point, Idaho Aug 20-21

August 20 ----32.28 in 2:49  we hated to leave the great campsite that we had at the River Delta, but we needed to get to a town that had some services, so we could get some things done.  It was just the right amount of distance to get in a little ride, and still not beat my legs real bad, because they are a little tired, and a day off may be in order in Sandpoint. Idaho.  Rt. 200 is definitely more narrow that its counterpart in Montana, but traffic wasn't terrible. The Clark Fork River, once again slowed in flow, so I thought another dam was downstream, but that wasn't the case. I lost the river for a short time, but when I came over the crest of a hill, I saw a amazing sight. The river had flowed into the Lake Pend Orielle, a huge lake that looked like someone put an ocean right down in between all the mountains at 2000 ft of elevation. NOW, I know why there was such little development upstream! There were marinas, resorts, sea planes with pontoons on them circling overhead, and all the makings of a vacation heaven. Even though I had never heard of this place, Lake Pend Orielle is the fifth largest lake in the US. It is 43 miles long and has 111 miles of shoreline. It is not caused by a dam, but a natural glacier 'ditch.' The town of Sand Point was voted by some big magazine as the most beautiful small town in the USA. It has a huge, natural, sandy beach in town, a marina, walking trails along the lake, and the worlds longest retail bridge. It's a bridge about 400 yards long that is covered by a building and has stores inside. Not chain stores, but local craft stores and the such.

As it turns out, the county fair is also going on, and once again, there were zero camping sites available in the few campgrounds in town. One of the campgrounds was the county fair site, so that wasn't going to work! The people at the campground that Pam ended up at were very cooperative, however, and we got a place to park and plug in at their RV repair shop. While we are here, it only made sense to have the shop look at a couple of things that need repaired on our RV.  A seal has come loose on a slide, our built in dust removal vacuum vent (I know, we are really roughing it), and a few other little things need done. 

 I am only 50 miles from Canada, so I am going to take a day and ride up there, while we are based in Sand Point. We may go to the fair, the beach, and just hang out for a few days. After I got into town, Pam and I Jeeped into the downtown area and had dinner, and walked around the town. It felt like we were in a beach town on the east coast, only without the humidity. I think many of the tourists are from the Spokane, Washington area, and from Canada. As nice as it is, it still is never going to be avoided because of the crowds. There was just a comfortable amount of people strolling the streets, prices were reasonable, and we have discovered another gem in the west.

August 21----- Here we took a day to enjoy Sand Point and get some work done on the motor home at Lake Rv, where we are staying. We went to City Park, which  is an island surrounded by Lake Pend Orielle. There is actually sand that occurs naturally here, its just a little more coarse that at the ocean. The park also includes a marina for motor boats, one for sail boats, tennis courts, sand volleyball, picnic area, open grass spaces, and the whole beach scene is surrounded by huge, beautiful mountains. The swimming beaches are life guarded, and the area is huge, for the few people that come here. In the evening, we went to the Bonner County Fair, paid a whopping 3 bucks (for the 2 of us) to get in, and walked around looking at chickens, pigs, cows, and 4-H projects.

Lake Pend Orielle

Marina

Sea Plane