Nor Cal to NID route and locale Q (Hayden, Sandpoint: rental car, where to stay)

[gmchenry]

Hi all, lurking here for years now, great group, great info! ...finally visiting...

First the questions
1) “best” driving route from Northern California to NID?
2) Is Sandpoint too far north to realistically “check out” the CDA, lake, Spokane regions on day trips…I have a 4 year old...


Now, the rationale:

Driving:
Finalizing our plans for a trip to CDA/NID in early June. I’ll be driving our car straight through and picking up my wife and daughter at Spokane airport. I’d like to plan a route that is scenic but not overly insanely longer than it needs to be.
Planning on I-5 to Portland, 85 to 395 route.
Other ideas? I don’t want to go through Nevada and up.

Anyone done that drive in one long day? Opinions on if longer, more scenic routes are worth it for scenery etc? Am I nuts? ….how nuts?....


Staying:
Found a nice looking rental cabin that is very affordable near Sandpoint, but fear that it will make day trips long in exploring much of the area. Originally we hadn’t planned on staying in the Sandpoint area, but just doing a day trip. But the place is cheap has fishing on site and a modest cabin and ranch animals and such, which we like. Has kind of got us thinking too much now!
Our other option is down Turner Bay on Lake CDA. Another remote cabin, simple, nice and closer to CDA, which may or may not be a big deal really.
I’m afraid the extra mileage will kill our motivation to roam…but then again it might force us to relax!!

Any thoughts? Thanks for any help a great forum and bunch of people.
Best,
-Glen

[Trace_Rinaldi]

Just my thoughts on day trips from Sandpoint.. I dont think it will be too far away to be able to explore the NID area... Keep in mind in the summer the days are LONG... Doesnt get dark till almost 10PM... IF it becomes a problem find another hotel and move to it, there are plenty in the area.
I dont know what the room rates are but the Holiday Inn near CdA has an indoor water park and all kinds of fun stuff for kids to do.. Might be worth the extra money. Your 4yo would probably like Silverwood too..

[gmchenry]

Thanks Trace, good stuff.
Were mostly looking forward to sitting on our butts and looking at trees and lakes instead of the masses of people down here. Probably avoid Silverwood but an indoor water park might be cool. My daughter has been raised right and mostly likes to look for bugs and lizards and such. Our last hike she was walking from bush to bush, whacking them with a stick and yelling "Rats!"...looking for rats. tripper.
Will be nice to be out of Cali for a while...I need a break.
...and if those "survival scalpels" are still available I'd love to swing by and pick one up if possible! If not, no biggie. I figure I owe you a bottle of single malty sump'n sump'n for all the good advice you've given me over time too!
Best,
-Glen

[Sage of Sagle]

STAYING:
If you're somewhere 5-10 miles north or west of Sandpoint, CDA is over an hour away. If you're in Sagle anywhere near Hwy 95 CDA is only about 45 minutes. We chose Sagle because we knew we'd be in CDA more often for kids' activities (we have several kids). If you're checking out both areas, I would choose to stay in Sagle or Cocolalla to be closer to Sandpoint (which has more small town feel by far than CDA) or stay in Hayden or Rathdrum to be closer to CDA but not too far from Sandpoint.

DRIVING:
I-5 to 84 to 395 to 90 isn't a bad drive. There are faster ways but have worse roads and more weather dependent driving conditions. I prefer the interstates when traveling with family. If it's a buddy and I doing the marathon, we go the absolute fastest route. Going from San Bernardino area to Sandpoint is 19 actual hours driving, or 21'ish hours with quick stops...and that's in a sedan. Towing a trailer it takes me 25'ish hours total.

Sandpoint to Portland is about 7.5 hours total time (just did it 3 weeks ago). Portland is about 8 hours from Davis/Chico area (for comparison). So yeah, if you got on the road at 6AM you could drive straight through (with reasonably quick stops) and be here by about midnight or so. But if I was driving with my family we'd stop in Portland for the night and do two NICE easy days of driving. A $50 hotel room is worth it for me to de-stress.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Hey gmchenry, good to see you again! June is a fantastic time to visit NID. I agree with Sage, but our preference is a little different: we've driven from CA to NID many times, trying out different routes. For speed and convenience we prefer I-5 to 97, spend the night in Bend, lots of reasonable hotels, and then go from 97 to 84 to 395 etc. (Just don't drive from Klamath Falls to Bend after dark--too many animals on the road!) And then you can stop for 1/2 hour and get an ice cream in Shaniko, stretch your legs, and show your daughter an honest-to-goodness Old West town.

From Sacramento to Spokane we usually plan on 1 1/2 day of driving. It's another 90 minutes or so to Sandpoint. If you want to include a visit to Spokane, I suggest you stop there first for a day or two, and then go on to Sandpoint, instead of doing sidetrips from SDPT. And definitely do Spokane first--once you've gotten used to the trees and the lakes, you don't really want to be back in the city, even for sightseeing!

Trace is so right, the long summer evenings simply add time for more fun stuff to do. There's nothing like having dinner, and then talk about what you want to do for the next 2-3 hours, outside!

[gmchenry]

Awsome info CFF and SOS! Your input really helps. Figuring on blasting up there by myself, taking the most direct/fast route, and then spending a few days on the return since I'll have the girls with me. I've done that stretch between Klamath Falls and Bend before, but in the daytime, I can imagine the criitters roaming would make that a harrowing journey.
Still deciding on where to stay, but we have time. Your imput for distances etc, really helps too. I was thinking about staying in Spokane or CDA for a day or two before heading up to SandPoint, so we may go that route.
Really looking forward to it. A long time in the making.
Best,
-Glen

[Count David]

Why not fly up to Spokane with your family, rent a car, and save yourself the drive?

[gmchenry]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Why not fly up to Spokane with your family, rent a car, and save yourself the drive?

I am fairly poor, rental car prices can be expensive, especially if your not using the thing every day. I will be able to use my wife's Outback (yes, Outback...) and stuff it with luggage, fishing stuff, camping stuff, hatchet, knives, tomahawks, food etc, etc, instead of checking in a ton of stuff at the airlines and getting greif from "the man".
The 2 flights will be taken care of by United FF miles, no more.

Plus, I like a good road trip!

Thanks!
-Glen

[Trace_Rinaldi]

Hey Glen! Man my memory is bad No problem on the survival scalpel.. Even if I make it out of something other than Talonite.... Coming from Sandpoint down here is a bit of a drive, but the wife and I did it a couple weeks ago and it wasnt too bad at all.. Just make a day of it.. Might even be able to get out on the lake on the Jet Ski's or drown some worms. Its only 10 minutes from my place.. See you then, and Single Malt sounds GOOD!

[gmchenry]

Originally Posted by Trace_Rinaldi

Hey Glen! Man my memory is bad No problem on the survival scalpel.. Even if I make it out of something other than Talonite.... Coming from Sandpoint down here is a bit of a drive, but the wife and I did it a couple weeks ago and it wasnt too bad at all.. Just make a day of it.. Might even be able to get out on the lake on the Jet Ski's or drown some worms. Its only 10 minutes from my place.. See you then, and Single Malt sounds GOOD!

Hey Trace, I was just giving you a hard time about the scalpel, no worries on that. I'll give you a heads up when I'm up that way for sure. Looking forward to getting up there. I like single malt. ...in fact its Friday, I should have one in my hand now!
Thanks again!
-Glen