Comments on Spirt Lake and surrounding areas (Sandpoint, Rathdrum: house, buy)

[Marcie R. Vermilye]

In addition to relocating to CDA, we have also considered Spirit Lake and the surrounding areas. I didn't find a lot of threads on Spirit Lake. What is the area like? Weather-snow, rain etc. It seems to be fairly inexpensive as compared to other bigger cities like Sandpoint and CDA. Does anyone know about the quality of schools there? What are any thoughts of commuting from Spirit Lake to Sandpoint for employment? Thanks for any info.

[Trouthunter]

It has been a while since I was there but Spirit Lake's climate is just like CDA/Sandpoint. You're right the area hasn't been as populated as CDA/Sandpoint, but I'm sure that will change soon. Spirit Lake is in the Rathdrum/Lakeland school District and I've been told (10 yrs ago) this is a fine school district to be in. The commute would be 30-45 minutes, but in the winter it might be a little scary.

[Sage of Sagle]

You won't want to commute to SP...as Trouthunter says, about 30-45 minutes summer. Could be double that in the winter.

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

What type of work do you do? Sandpoint is mostly tourist type businesses.

[Sage of Sagle]

Distribution. So we could have put a warehouse anywhere in a business-friendly state, but this area had so much to offer.

[C_ferreira]

I live in Spirit Lake, and let me tell you, the climate is NOT THE SAME AS CD'A!!!!!! We get a lot more precipitation than they do...it could be nice in all the KC, but it'll be raining in Spirit Lake. I think it is because of the mountain. And we get way way way more snow than they do in Cd'A, PF or even Athol. We'll still have snow in late April whereas Cd'A's snow will be gone by February. The town itself is okay, I guess, there are some strange people, but oddly enough, the town is not as republican as you'd expect a rural (although technically we are in a metro area) would be. It is very fairly democratic. The schools are good; there are lots of gay students at the high school (Timberlake)...I just graduated from there, and no joke, at least 10% of the school is openly gay or lesbian (although mostly lesbian).

Overall, it is an okay town, and the drive to Cd'A is about 30 minutes (honestly, during the winter it is only about 5 minutes longer), 10 minutes to Rathdrum, 20 to PF and 30 to the Spokane Valley.

In the coming years, it is going to get a lot bigger. So buy your house and land while it is still cheap!!

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

Originally Posted by C_ferreira

or lesbian (although mostly lesbian).

Nothing wrong with that from a guys perspective Just kidding. Don't flame me I just couldn't resist.

Originally Posted by C_ferreira

Overall, it is an okay town, and the drive to Cd'A is about 30 minutes (honestly, during the winter it is only about 5 minutes longer), 10 minutes to Rathdrum, 20 to PF and 30 to the Spokane Valley.

In the coming years, it is going to get a lot bigger. So buy your house and land while it is still cheap!!

That's my plan...buy ASAP. I gotta look between Athol and Sandpoint to be able to make a commute for work. I feel north of Sandpoint is just not going to work unfortunately

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

Originally Posted by YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY

What type of work do you do? Sandpoint is mostly tourist type businesses.

Originally Posted by Sage of Sagle

Distribution. So we could have put a warehouse anywhere in a business-friendly state, but this area had so much to offer.

I don't know if you were answering me or not but I was actually asking Marcie

[Sage of Sagle]

Eh, no worries. I just read it wrong.

[Marcie R. Vermilye]

We are in the government line of work. It seems like many people commute to Spokane since the city is bigger and there are more job opportunities. We are not opposed to a reasonable commute. I guess living the CDA area would be better for the commute to Spokane??? Any help?