Sunday/Monday. 5/6 & 5/7. Day 16 & day 17
My time in Sandpoint revolved around exploring, relaxing and playing. In the mornings I was finding my way to some coffee joint that Larry and Mago (my buddy Eric's dog) would take me too. Saturday was starbucks, since all the other shops were closed. We sat on the deck which over looked a dock, a boardwalk and the new bypass through town. The new bypass is days from opening up and the feeling I got from the spandpointians (made that one up) was disgust and disappointment. The bypass is designed to direct traffic out of town but it cuts off the view of the lake and the mountains and inevitable will probably bring more traffic to the area. But anyways we had coffee then walked around town and finished off breakfast with some gelato. Larry was a great guide, and I'm not just putting that because he will be reading this, he had the key to the city with insight and wisdom to ideas. Reminded me a lot of John whom I met in the tri-cities. After breakfast Larry and Eileen took me out on a few different roads to explore the outlying areas of Sandpoint. The first area was bottle bay road and then we did another stint up to Switzer ski resort. Both had spectacular views of the landscape. The first revealed the forested country side which had many different lakes hidden in it along with an old truck that was probably used for logging. We took a tiny hike to an overlook. I realized how comfortable I feel in an environment that is similar to the one I'm in now. I wonder if that is something that is programmed into my body to feel comfort in certain landscapes. Just being here in the forest makes me want to build a fire and camp. I hope that this will be the style of town and area that I will be in Japan, it is truly a peaceful area. At the ski resort we were able to see half of Sandpoint, the lake, and probably a bit of glacier np. Haha not really but I saw many mountains.
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| Overlooking Sandpoint Area |
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| going to town |
In the evening we had homemade chicken pot pie and watched a documentary called the garden.
Monday started off with me going to Common Knowledge. It was a half n half, half cafe half bookstore. Cute little place which gave myself the opportunity to catch up on some journaling. One of the servers became a mom that morning, a new baby caff. Larry came and met me after his private class about the civil war with home school students, got his classic mocha. He also showed me some possible routes to go throughout the rest of his trip, which reinforced my thoughts of areas that I wanted to go and found some better places in areas that I could go. It's still is great to learn from the locals on which way is best.
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| Redneck Transporting |
In the afternoon I met up with Eric and saw his place of work. It is a youth home for kids that usually come from a wilderness program. The program had its own house with room for 9 kids. Great location and it seemed like a well supported place for kids. Once off of work we grabbed a six pack and went kayaking on the lake next to Sandpoint. This beat our original plan of sailing which would have completely failed since there was no wind. We went out a ways under the bridges and caught up on life. Eric is headed out to costa rica on wednesday with his to costa rica for a decent amount of time and then off on another trip in Wales with another program. Lucky man, finding work that goes abroad and allows travel in the daily life. After a good couple hours boating we went and had snack with Kim, his girlfriend, and went out to a local pub for music, food, and to meet up with Larry and Eileen. The music was great mostly improv. The night started out with one person then as it went on more people came. Ended up with a singer another guitarist and a guy who played the harmonica and trombone. The guy with the harmonica reminded me of Nick's playing un the field. Great relaxing environment, they were amazing. Eric and I finished the night out at some dive bars where we continued to talk about our sewing carriers. Ya he is creating a back pack right now, I think that would be a fun challenge to take on. Hearing about it made me want to make a quilt or something. Oh also had a blast from the past in the bar because Idaho still allows smoking inside! It was weird to see and it made me thankful that I don't have to deal with that anymore in the other states I have been in.
I could see myself living in a place like Sandpoint. In the middle of the outdoors surrounded with a strong community, opportunities to grow, and ways to find all the comforts that I'm used to. I also have liked this style of travel on my trip, go for a couple of days and push the mileage and than rest we a group for a couple days it allows me to get a feel for the day to say life of where I stop.
My time in Sandpoint revolved around exploring, relaxing and playing. In the mornings I was finding my way to some coffee joint that Larry and Mago (my buddy Eric's dog) would take me too. Saturday was starbucks, since all the other shops were closed. We sat on the deck which over looked a dock, a boardwalk and the new bypass through town. The new bypass is days from opening up and the feeling I got from the spandpointians (made that one up) was disgust and disappointment. The bypass is designed to direct traffic out of town but it cuts off the view of the lake and the mountains and inevitable will probably bring more traffic to the area. But anyways we had coffee then walked around town and finished off breakfast with some gelato. Larry was a great guide, and I'm not just putting that because he will be reading this, he had the key to the city with insight and wisdom to ideas. Reminded me a lot of John whom I met in the tri-cities. After breakfast Larry and Eileen took me out on a few different roads to explore the outlying areas of Sandpoint. The first area was bottle bay road and then we did another stint up to Switzer ski resort. Both had spectacular views of the landscape. The first revealed the forested country side which had many different lakes hidden in it along with an old truck that was probably used for logging. We took a tiny hike to an overlook. I realized how comfortable I feel in an environment that is similar to the one I'm in now. I wonder if that is something that is programmed into my body to feel comfort in certain landscapes. Just being here in the forest makes me want to build a fire and camp. I hope that this will be the style of town and area that I will be in Japan, it is truly a peaceful area. At the ski resort we were able to see half of Sandpoint, the lake, and probably a bit of glacier np. Haha not really but I saw many mountains. 
In the afternoon I met up with Eric and saw his place of work. It is a youth home for kids that usually come from a wilderness program. The program had its own house with room for 9 kids. Great location and it seemed like a well supported place for kids. Once off of work we grabbed a six pack and went kayaking on the lake next to Sandpoint. This beat our original plan of sailing which would have completely failed since there was no wind. We went out a ways under the bridges and caught up on life. Eric is headed out to costa rica on wednesday with his to costa rica for a decent amount of time and then off on another trip in Wales with another program. Lucky man, finding work that goes abroad and allows travel in the daily life. After a good couple hours boating we went and had snack with Kim, his girlfriend, and went out to a local pub for music, food, and to meet up with Larry and Eileen. The music was great mostly improv. The night started out with one person then as it went on more people came. Ended up with a singer another guitarist and a guy who played the harmonica and trombone. The guy with the harmonica reminded me of Nick's playing un the field. Great relaxing environment, they were amazing. Eric and I finished the night out at some dive bars where we continued to talk about our sewing carriers. Ya he is creating a back pack right now, I think that would be a fun challenge to take on. Hearing about it made me want to make a quilt or something. Oh also had a blast from the past in the bar because Idaho still allows smoking inside! It was weird to see and it made me thankful that I don't have to deal with that anymore in the other states I have been in. 
I could see myself living in a place like Sandpoint. In the middle of the outdoors surrounded with a strong community, opportunities to grow, and ways to find all the comforts that I'm used to. I also have liked this style of travel on my trip, go for a couple of days and push the mileage and than rest we a group for a couple days it allows me to get a feel for the day to say life of where I stop.
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