Our drive today was from Grand Coulee to Spokane, then to Coeur d’Alene, then turning north to Sandpoint and finally around the northern end of Lake Pend Oreille to the Beyond Hope Resort and Campground.
We began the day with local muffins and coffee at the Columbia River Inn, leaving about 9:00 am. We drove toward Spokane, passing by the north side of the airport and the entrance to Fairchild AFB. We quickly crossed the border into Idaho, drove to Coeur d’Alene and then to Sandpoint. We arrived in time for a late breakfast or early lunch. We walked to the historic Cedar Street Bridge, which is now a shopping venue and cafe. I had a chicken, apple crepe and Betsy had quiche with fruit salad. We ate looking out onto the canal that runs parallel with the main downtown street, with kayakers, SUPers, and small powered boats going by.
We had another thirty minutes to drive to Beyond Hope Resort, which operates mooring docks, has a restaurant and a large campground. We had reserved a site via the web and after finding the check-in office were chauffeured via a golf cart to pick our specific tent site.
We unloaded our gear at site #6, erected the tent, and then assembled the bikes for a local touring ride around the area. Beyond Hope is on the lake’s edge a few miles past the villages of Hope and East Hope, hence the name. The resort is next to the Sam Owen Recreational Area, with a state-run campground, and amidst many private homes, most of which are lakeside and posh. We only rode a 8 miles but used most of our lower bike gears. The hills were rolling and rather abrupt. We reached top speeds of 27 mph going downhill.
A possible restoration project in someone’s front lawn seen while biking
We took an evening stroll on the resort’s nature path and got chased by mosquitoes. We saw a small, bright green frog (about the size of nickel), some type of woodpecker, and, while sitting at the docks, watched a Blue-Violet Swallow feed its chicks that were nested in a retaining wall. I was able to get a not so great photograph of him darting into the right crevice.
Sunset was quite nice, with a full moon opposite.
Day 3, June 16th, Sunday, Beyond Hope to Essex, Montana:
Today was pretty much another driving day. We slept well in our tent last night and enjoyed a cereal breakfast on our picnic table. We got packed and drove south along Lake Pend Oreille and onto the Clark Fork River. We stopped at Cabinet Gorge Hydroelectric Plant viewpoint, checking off another PNW power plant.
We turned east and north toward Libby (we didn’t stop at that plant - already have seen it) and onto Kalispell. We arrived at Essex and the Izaak Walton Inn, a historic site that provided pusher engines for trains going over the Rocky Mountain range and is still a maintenance facility. It originally served the Great Northern Railway and the inn has lots of memorabilia on the walls and for sale (of course). Also Amtrak’s trains from Seattle/Portland to Chicago passes through here — the east bound train at 8:50 am and the west bound train at 7:41 pm.
That’s Jan and Ron in front of the Inn
Our friends, Jan and Ron pulled in just after we checked in. We are going to enjoy a single evening together. Betsy and I are off to Calgary and Edmonton; Jan and Ron are spending more time in Glacier and Waterton Parks. We will join up again in Jasper and then Banff.
We thought we would go for hike up behind the inn and after a mile, the afternoon rains started. We stood under trees for awhile, but the rain didn’t stop. Eventually three cars passed us and after ‘passing up’ on the first one, Ron jumped in the second one and Jan, Betsy and I got in the third for a ride back to the inn.
We enjoyed dinner at the Inn’s restaurant and then watched west bound Amtrak go by, only 1 hour late.
Onto Canada tomorrow.
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