Moving to Sagle and have some questions (Sandpoint, Sun Valley: sales, rent)

[DemonicAngel]

Hi all,

My family just bought a house in Sagle and we will be moving in next week. I have a couple of questions about the area.

Best restaurants?
Best place to buy groceries?
Best places to shop for everything else?
Recommendation for a farm animal vet? (we have a couple goats)
Where to buy chickens and ducks?
Feed store?
Things to do?
Places to go?
How are the winters?
Wildlife?
Are the people friendly?
Any other things I should know about the area?

Really I'm just looking for as much information about the area that I can get. Any other things I forgot to ask that you may find pertinent or fun or interesting. Any favorite places you have to visit? Thanks for any input you can give.

[Cnynrat]

See my answers to some of your questions below in blue -

Originally Posted by DemonicAngel

Best restaurants? The "best" restaurant will be different depending on your budget, what sort of food you are in the mood for, and so on. Mexican food? Joel's in Sandpoint. Fine dining? 41 South. Italian food: Ivanos. Lakeside dining? Trinity at City Beach or Dish in Dover. Good lunch spot: Pie Hut or Spuds. We also like Baxter's on Cedar for lunch or dinner. If you are on Facebook you might want to join the North Idaho Foodies page - lot's of feedback on restaurants, although mostly from the CDA area. While there are some good restaurants in Sandpoint the choices are limited, so if you really like dining out you may find yourself making the trip down to CDA from time to time.

Best place to buy groceries? IMO the best grocery store in north Idaho is Fred Meyer in CDA. It's a bit far if you are coming from Sagle though, so you will most likely end up shopping in Sandpoint. Yokes, Super 1, and Safeway are your primary choices. All have their pluses and minuses, so we end up doing some shopping at each of them. If you want a natural food store there is Winter Ridge. There is also Wal Mart, but we've never shopped for groceries there.

Best places to shop for everything else? Depends on what you are shopping for. If you are like us you will end up making periodic trips to CDA. We're down there roughly monthly, usually driven by our schedule for stocking up on some things we usually get from Costco.

Where to buy chickens and ducks? We got our chicks at North 40. The Co-Op also has them. Both are only available in the spring. At this time of year you probably need to find someone looking to sell a few birds of their own.

Feed store? The Co-Op, The Country Store, Woods Hay & Grain. I think North 40 may also sell some feed. We get feed for our chickens at the Co-Op.

How are the winters? Gray, somewhat cold, snowy. Exactly how gray, cold and snowy will vary from one year to the next. When the sun does shine it's glorious.

Wildlife? Yes. Deer and turkey are a dime a dozen. We see an occasional moose around our place, and elk from time to time. The coyotes serenade us every now and again. I'm sure there are bear, cougar, wolves and others, but we've never seen one. Well, OK, there was that bear we saw running across the road on our way up to Priest Lake one time.

Are the people friendly? We think they are.

Dave

[volosong]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

Best place to buy groceries? IMO the best grocery store in north Idaho is Fred Meyer in CDA. It's a bit far if you are coming from Sagle though...

I have to second Dave's recommendation for Fred Meyers. In my limited time in North Idaho, I have found food from the grocery stores to be quite expensive. Idaho is said to have a lower cost-of-living than most places and while I didn't expect food to be less expensive, I was unprepared for it to be as expensive as it is.

Then a neighbor turned me onto Fred Meyer. It is a nice store with very reasonable prices. Be sure to sign up for one of their "loyalty buyer" cards, (or whatever they call it). It doesn't cost anything and gives discounts on a lot of items. Fred Meyer is off 95, on the west side, just past the Toyota dealer as your are headed south. Take the street on the southern boundary of Parker Toyota into the Fred Meyer parking lot. While traveling on 95, unless you are looking right at it, you will miss it. It's well hidden and not easily visible from 95. Going north, make a U-turn at the 95/Kathleen intersection, then into the parking lot past Parker.

[Cnynrat]

I agree with Volo that groceries are more expensive than you might think. Part of that is the sales tax, which applies to groceries here, but I think even if you take that into account they are still a little pricey.

Dave

[Clark Fork Fantast]

For lunch I have to vote for MickDuff's in Sandpoint, followed by Eichardt's. For brunch we prefer Connie's. When we're at our property in Clark Fork we drive to Sandpoint once or twice a week, and we never have a problem finding a really good place to eat. Over in Ponderay Lou's has a great menu, but it is a sports bar with loud TVs, which we're not too thrilled with. (I loved Lou's in Hope, but they were taken over by a much inferior restaurant, Chops.)

Wildlife: We have friends in Sagle, on the west side of 95, and they have seen cougars in the hills west of Round Lake. Over in Clark Fork we've got'em all: wolves, black bears (grizzlies up on Scotchman Peaks), cougars, and all the stuff they eat.

Things to do? Are you serious? Everything outdoorsy! And a nice movie theater and a real theater for indoor entertainment, plus a vibrant art scene.

Places to go? How far do you want to go? Sandpoint/Sagle is a great home base for trips to Washington, Canada, Montana, and Wyoming, and all of Central, SE and SW Idaho (think Sun Valley and Stanley). For day trips you can even explore Noxon, Thompson Falls, and The Kootenai Falls/Libby in Montana, and a weekend will be enough to get you to Glacier National Park and back. A couple more days, and you can explore Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. If, on the other hand, you're pining for a big city, you can get to Seattle in 6 hours.

[Sandpointian]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

See my answers to some of your questions below in blue -



Dave

^^ this
For food, I would add
* Whenever I go to Spokane, I like buying groceries and going to restaurants there--so many options
* More restaurant options in CDA area
* From May-Oct, Sandpoint's and CDA's Farmer's Market
* Pilgrim's Progress in CDA

[DemonicAngel]

Thank you all for your responses. They are quite helpful and just what we were looking for. We appreciate it. We will definitely try out some of those restaurants. One last question, does anyone know if you can swim in jewel lake or is it strictly for fishing?

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by DemonicAngel

Thank you all for your responses. They are quite helpful and just what we were looking for. We appreciate it. We will definitely try out some of those restaurants. One last question, does anyone know if you can swim in jewel lake or is it strictly for fishing?

You can swim there-but access is very limited. Most of the way around the lake there is a wide area of deep mud/muck/lilly pads. The only nice access is at the boat ramp/dock. While you can swim there, much of the time you'd be bothering people fishing from the dock. There is no beach to speak of though.

[DvrGrl]

Originally Posted by DemonicAngel

Thank you all for your responses. They are quite helpful and just what we were looking for. We appreciate it. We will definitely try out some of those restaurants. One last question, does anyone know if you can swim in jewel lake or is it strictly for fishing?

I would recommend Round Lake in Sagle for both swimming and fishing. Its absolutely beautiful and easy to get to. As a state park there is a nominal access fee, also can rent paddleboards, kayaks, canoes, and swim off the dock or small beach, as well as hiking and camping.

[DemonicAngel]

We will definitely check out round lake. It seems like a great place with just what we're looking for.