Idaho Vacation–Around Town

When we were not skiing, we were hanging around town, shopping, and chasing trains.

Monday

After skiing, we drove down to Sandpoint. Our first stop was the Sandpoint City Beach Park. While there, we got a text from Susan with a shopping list, so we went to Safeway next. Then, on the way back to the condo, we saw a train stopped at a signal, so we waited for the oncoming train to pass, then for the stopped train to continue. Dinner that night was my favorite ski vacation meal: chili in a sourdough bread bowl. I was torn between watching the trains and racing home to eat.

Tuesday

On the way to the mountain today, we were greeted by high temperatures and rain. At the intersection to head up to Schweitzer, I decided to delay skiing and instead continued straight towards Sandpoint. I’m so glad that I did because I was treated to two surprises: A BNSF engine with the executive paint scheme and an aircraft on a train.

We first saw the train carrying the airplane fuselage stopped at a signal. We hurried to the Amtrak station to see it go by. While we waited, a different train came by with the special second engine.

BNSF Executive paint scheme

After the train passed, the train carrying the fuselage was cleared past the signal.

Airplane fuselage on a train

After watching trains for awhile, we decided to drive up to Schweitzer Mountain Resort and see how bad the weather really was. On the way back down, we were surprised to see the crossing gates for the BNSF mainline dropping. We ended up being first in line as a BNSF train went by. Then, while driving back towards town, I saw a Union Pacific train in the distance. Andrew routed us to a good viewing spot and I parked near a grade crossing. To our surprise, the train was led by a Canadian Pacific engine and had a UP engine in the second position. In typical CP fashion, there was a mid-train engine as well.

CP train on the UP tracks

After a rather miserable looking day with rain and slushy snow, the sun finally broke through and we had a very nice sunset.

Gorgeous sunset at the end of an ugly day

Wednesday

After a rather ugly day on Tuesday, I was hoping for a better day today. Instead, we woke up to a brief snow flurry that covered the area in a blanket of white.

Early morning snow flurry

After breakfast, Andrew and I headed for the mountain for a full day of skiing.

Feeling hungry after a long day of skiing, Andrew and I went searching for food. My search uncovered a local gem off the beaten path, but it was a little too far to go at the time. We ended up going to Mr. Subs and ordered a foot long to go. We drove over to the Amtrak station, parked, and waited for trains while eating.

Thursday

Being our last full day, we planned to do and see everything else on our list, which included things like parks, National Forests, and shopping centers.

Our first stop was the park near Trestle Creek. This park is on Lake Pend Orielle and has a good view of the railroad tracks.

A short drive down the road is Trestle Creek. We drove four miles up the slush and snow covered dirt road to the snowmobiler parking lot. Along the way, we saw at least a dozen deer. Or maybe it was just six that we saw on the way up and then again on the way back? Can’t really be sure.

Then, while heading to Sandpoint, we saw a BNSF train with a Norfolk Southern engine in the second position. That seemed really out of place in Idaho. We continued to the trailhead near the Amtrak station and waited for it to pass.

Odd NS engine in a BNSF train

Then we crossed the bridge into downtown and went to the Cedar Street Bridge Public Market. It is an historic shopping center built on top of an old walking bridge.

Cedar Street Bridge History

Later, we drove to the Pack River Store, which had great reviews. We discovered it while searching for pizza after skiing. The store was nice enough, but the clerk informed us that they haven’t sold pizza in over two years. I bought a pint of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream instead.

Back at the condo, we faced a dilemma: what to do with all of the remaining food? Apparently, we made one too many stops at Safeway over the past five days.

After eating, Andrew and I went back to the lakeside park to fly the drone. We were encouraged because we saw a green signal in the direction of the park. Andrew prepared and flew the drone, but no train arrived. While there, we met a local who lived nearby and he commented that there’s always trains going by. Well, not this time. We decided to give it another try in the morning.

Drone shot of the Montana Rail Link line near Lake Pend Orielle

Although not mentioned elsewhere, I wanted to mention that we also saw a couple BNSF rail cars with Fallen Flags heritage paint schemes. First was a hopper with the Northern Pacific logo and second was a hopper with the Great Northern logo. Unfortunately, we were unable to get pictures of these.

Click the photo below to see the photo album.