MaxMetal Custom Motorcycles

Sunday afternoon was a time to see some of the beautiful country around Northern Idaho. (The picture above is at Cabinet Gorge.)  On the sight seeing docket was “Ross Creek Cedars”, a conservation area with virgin timber.   We wandered through the giant cedars in an almost “other-worldly” atmosphere.  Grand and awe-inspiring!  http://www.libby.org/homepage/RossCreek/. 

The next stop was Kootenai Falls. http://www.libby.org/homepage/KFalls/.  This was another example of Nature’s beauty - the waterfall is spectacular. 

The other attraction at this area is the Swinging Bridge.  I get freaked out by heights - but to be a good trooper I crossed the bridge with the rest of our group.  Going over was not too bad, but once across the bridge there is no choice but to go back across it.  Going back was bad - some impatient tourists at the other end started across while I was in the middle, hanging out in space over the water swirling below.  I had a bit of a melt-down. So I need to work on overcoming that fear - like tackling the swinging bridge at Tullalah Gorge (the nearest to home) this coming summer - maybe…

We got a glimpse of another way to travel and some of the people who are crazy about it.  Our son-in-law works for Quest Aircraft,  a company that designs and builds airplanes - in particular, Short Take-Off and Landing aircraft for use in areas with less than ideal conditions. http://www.questaircraft.com/ They just received the go-ahead from the FAA on full production of the “Kodiak”.  It was an exciting time for the company and we enjoyed being there for the celebration. 


There was a “Fly-In” at the Sandpoint airport and we saw some interesting airplanes.  My favorite was this Piper Cub.

The last stretch into Sandpoint.  We turned off I-90 in Coeur d’Alene following the signs that said “Sandpoint, ID 43 mi” and “Canada 107 mi.”.  We took two lane US95 north, went through the little town of Athol (really) and on to Sandpoint.  We were now in the Pacific Time Zone and a long way from the northeast corner of Georgia. I have to admit I was ready to be off the motorcycle for a few days. 

We spent a couple of days with our daughter and son-in-law in their tiny, tiny apartment on the corner of 2nd avenue, only a few blocks away from the city park and the big lake, Pend Oreille (pronounced more like Pond Array).  Sandpoint is a pleasant city - very visitor friendly. 

Some interesting items about Sandpoint:
 (1) Pedestrians have the absolute right-of-way.  When a pedestrian approaches the curb - all traffic stops immediately and waits for the person to get completely across the street.  I have never seen this happen before and it was a bit un-nerving the first time or two to have cars waiting for me to enter and cross the street.
(2) I did not see a single franchise restaurant in Sandpoint - no McDonald’s, no Burger King, no Pizza Hut.  There were nice restaurants on nearly every corner but no KFC or Wendy’s.

(3) Idahoans must really like their fine coffee- there were coffee shops everywhere, even mobile expresso shops like the Jumping Java Bus. 
4) There must be old hippies in Sandpoint - I saw some flash-back vehicles and even saw a yellow submarine.