12 June, 2008: Sandpoint

I spent my morning wandering Sandpoint in search of coffee and tent stakes -- a couple of my "spares" that aren't, really, do not fit in with the others in that they do not do their job effectively. Unfortunately, the stakes that I could find locally wouls be no better; the army surplus store actually carries PLASTIC stakes, the use of which I would expect to make me the laughingstock of the backpacking community.

I did discover Eickhardt's pub today, twice, with the help of locals. From the outside it appears to be a total dive bar with nothing interesting going on. When you step inside, however, you quickly realize that this place is serious; Your first clue is the outrageous number of tap handles hanging from the ceiling. My rough estimate, and this is not in the least an exaggeration, is that there are FIVE HUNDRED of them, and they are (or were) good beers from good breweries.

I went to Eickhardt's again tonight and met a ton of awesome people, most of whom are friends of Marsha,.ny host for tomorrow night. Tonight, at Eickhardt's, is when I decided Sandpoint was my kind of place. In addition to Marsha, Matt, Robyn, Michael, and Nate, all of whom I already knew, I met Terra, Laura, Dustin, Christine, Clark, Katie, Molly, Eric, Leah, Rebecca, and Wes, and probably even more awesome people. These were my kind of people, and I think Sandpoint is my kind of place. Friends in Sandpoint, I'm sure you hear it a lot, but I WILL be back!