Sandpoint, ID

So you’ve grown a monster zucchini and you just can’t wait to show it off? Or maybe you’ve spent that last two years hand-stitching a beautiful quilt. Perhaps you’re sure your sow is the shapeliest porcine example in town. You’re certain your rabbit is the most adorable in Idaho? The Bonner County Fair is where you can see how your projects measure up to those of fellow citizens.

The show begin with the usual novelty attractions. There was a boy who was incredibly flexible and put himself in a box. There were the hula hoop girls who swiveled and swayed and hula-hooped like there was no tomorrow. There were the circus ponies and the circus dogs, all doing cute little tricks. Then the show increased it’s pace with bigger attractions, like the quartet on the centrifuge wheel, and the tightrope walkers. And our daughter’s favorite: the motorcyle riding on a high wire.

So. You don’t particularly relish the idea of wandering from booth to booth, peering at lampwork beads, hand-carved stone, high-quality photography, watercolors, textiles, wood and ceramic art, or forged ironwork. And you’re not a fan of strolling in the park while your mate browses for finely-crafted items that can be found in this one place only once each year. You’d rather spend a perfect summer day at home…mowing the lawn, perhaps.

Beauty abounds in Sandpoint as I think we are all aware of; but during the summer months often times we focus in on what we feel embodies that beauty: the lake. Pend Oreille Lake offers many refreshing activities when the mercury is rising outside. From boating and all the activities that inherently brings, to just [...]

Camping in North Idaho is such a perfectly easy thing no matter where you are, it seems like you are minutes away from great camping. We decided to get out of town and we quickly landed on Priest Lake. Less than 50 miles from Sandpoint this seemed like the perfect place for a weekend getaway.

As you arrive in the dirt parking lot and make your way to the U-pick area, you are greeted by a friendly girl and a very friendly black lab named Riley. The set-up is simple. Go to the tally shed and grab a red bucket or two, depending on how much energy you have. We thought we had a lot of chutzpah. When you start out, the buckets look small. Let me point out here that while some blueberries are quarter-sized, others are less than dime-sized in diameter. Pause for a moment and you’ll realize that it takes a lot of them to fill up a bucket. However, this is still a very fun time and you won’t be disappointed even if you don’t pick many.

It seems like everywhere I go I hear grumblings about gas prices. And it’s all true, what people are saying. We are paying more for gas this summer than we did last summer. Good thing we weren’t planning any big trips this year, otherwise we’d have to tap into our retirement fund! Instead of a vacation this year, my family is taking a staycation! What’s a staycation, you may be asking yourself? It’s a period of time where we will stay at home and relax, explore our community, and take day trips – all within a short drive from home. We may decide to take a week off for our staycation, or we may just do it over several weekends. Here’s what we’re thinking about doing:

The savory mystery of morel mushrooms is one I never get tired of. Every year, it is just as much of a thrill as it was the first time to come upon even one of these elusive treats. You’ve probably seen them dried, in tiny cellophane baggies in the produce section of your local grocery. And they probably cost around $7.99 for five or six shriveled little husks. If you are willing to look closely, be cautious and tramp around in the woods, you can find your own for nothing.

There was barely time to catch our breath after we piled into the car. We all started chatting, exchanging opinions and thoughts about what we had just done. The consensus? Our trip to the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center was worth it, AND worthy of a repeat visit in the future.
Saturday [...]

On Saturday we decided to visit Copper Creek Falls, just this side of the Canadian Border. We were pleasantly surprised when the hike turned out to be very easy and the falls beautiful. The Falls is not just some little stream with a little tiny waterfall, this was the real deal. While [...]