One of our last days in Idaho was spent riding bikes through Sandpoint. Sand Creek runs south into a little lagoon, adjacent to and culminating in Lake Pend Oreille. The large bridge in the photo below is filled with little shops, and is mainly to relieve tourists of excess currency. But very quaint.
The bike trail eventually heads over to the lake side, towards a very long bridge.
The bridge is a couple of miles of straight shot across this corner of the lake. It’s obvious the original bridge was deemed too old or small for the traffic load, so a new portion was created right next to it. So now all motorized vehicles travel on the western half, and the eastern half is just for pedestrians and pedal powered people. It’s a nice, level, paved ride, with a gorgeous view, and the added benefit of the noise and fumes of huge trucks zooming right beside you!
Here’s the “Shopping Bridge”
A pretty little marina is on the south side of town.
Saw a few paddleboarders
Back to Washington
We returned to Spokane to see our Daughter and her beautiful family… and work on their outbuilding, which is referred to as the “Shop”. It is a pole barn, very nicely built, but without any insulation or finish inside. I heroically (foolishly?) volunteered to finish the inside of the shop, if they bought the materials. Hopefully this will save them some bucks. The shop project consumed a lot of our time, but not so much that we couldn’t find time for a kayak jaunt on nearby Medical Lake. I have no idea where the name came from. The water was refreshing, but I wouldn’t have thought medicinal. (Tune in next week for details on the shop upgrade!)
Kids were playing on a little rocky island an easy swim from the shore.
We saw what looked like a stone bunker hidden in the steeper shoreline. Was this to protect the lake from foreign invasion in WWII?
The other side of the lake was popular for rock jumping. At least for one kid, who must have climbed up and jumped a dozen times while we watched from the water.
Here is a very short clip of the rock jumping kids…