What capacity are restaurants / businesses and beaches?

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Our two beaches on Lake Pend Oreille: Trestle Creek on Highway 200, and Beyond Hope, on the peninsula out by the restaurant (hope that is still Ivano's). At Trestle Creek you will be sharing it with kids swimming in a cordoned-off area, but it is secluded, with a fantastic view (but where is the view not fantastic?). It has big old shade trees and a steady breeze. It is next door to an okay RV park. On the peninsula you'll have to walk a bit from the parking lot out to the beach area. Both places have a sandy beach to put your blankets/chairs on, but the water's edge is full of stones and pebbles, so we wear aqua shoes.

Western Pleasure Guest Ranch is a nice, classy guest ranch just north/east of Sandpoint. They have cabins:
https://westernpleasureranch.com/accommodations/

Sadly, our favorite guest ranch, the Diamond T in Clark Fork, is permanently closed.

[Mister Torgue]

Originally Posted by elousv

If you are talking buckets and drinks in the same sentence you need to order yourself a "Derailer" when you are here.

Oh? Looking forward to that. What’s in it? My wife is more of the connoisseur of beverages of the alcoholic variety. But I’ll try almost anything once. I’ll be bringing mostly water and some Texas sweet tea.

Originally Posted by volosong

Farragut State Park has a few cabins, but they are probably already rented for the summer. It's on the lake too. Not your typical beach experience, but it is there.

That sounds like fun! We always are looking for something off the beaten path and not “touristy”. Once our Overlanding rigs are done we will be sleeping either in one’s roof top tent or a small pop up travel trailer.

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

Our two beaches on Lake Pend Oreille: Trestle Creek on Highway 200, and Beyond Hope, on the peninsula out by the restaurant (hope that is still Ivano's). At Trestle Creek you will be sharing it with kids swimming in a cordoned-off area, but it is secluded, with a fantastic view (but where is the view not fantastic?). It has big old shade trees and a steady breeze. It is next door to an okay RV park. On the peninsula you'll have to walk a bit from the parking lot out to the beach area. Both places have a sandy beach to put your blankets/chairs on, but the water's edge is full of stones and pebbles, so we wear aqua shoes.

Western Pleasure Guest Ranch is a nice, classy guest ranch just north/east of Sandpoint. They have cabins:
https://westernpleasureranch.com/accommodations/

Sadly, our favorite guest ranch, the Diamond T in Clark Fork, is permanently closed.

Thank you for the post! This is exactly the kind of stuff I’m looking for. Bummer about the Diamond T ranch though.

[elousv]

Originally Posted by Mister Torgue

Oh? Looking forward to that. What’s in it? My wife is more of the connoisseur of beverages of the alcoholic variety. But I’ll try almost anything once.

Recipes vary but rum-gin-vodka-amaretto-peachschnapps and I guess some juice too. Not a connoisseur drink, more of a wake up on the beach with no recollection type. Bardenay (in Riverstone) has some good higher end drinks and awesome patio in summer.

[Mister Torgue]

Originally Posted by elousv

Recipes vary but rum-gin-vodka-amaretto-peachschnapps and I guess some juice too. Not a connoisseur drink, more of a wake up on the beach with no recollection type. Bardenay (in Riverstone) has some good higher end drinks and awesome patio in summer.

Haha, that sounds like a fun beverage. I'd try it.

[cleosmom]

I don't wear a mask anywhere in Idaho Falls

[MTJoe]

Do the derailers still come in a bucket? Haven't had one in years.

I think what Volosong means by "not your typical beach setting" is that Lake Pend Oreille is massive but the "beaches" are not what one might expect from a typical body of water it's size. Not really crowded and many are accessible only by boat (referring to the lake as a whole not just within Farragut). Avoid Farragut on the weekends if at all possible. Last year they were closing the boat launches by 10am Sat/Sun because there was no parking available. I've never physically been to the public swimming beach (Beaver Bay?) but it looks crowded from the water. Thankfully it has taken some of the traffic away from the launch. Plenty of other creeks/rivers/lakes in NID to relax next to and enjoy a beverage without the crowds.

If you're overlanding then research the back side of PDO, Kingston/Cataldo, up to Calrk Fork, over to Thompson Falls etc. Maybe the Roman Nose area over to Priest? Wallace/Avery, Mullan to MT. Lots of travel between areas can be done on dirt roads here.

I have yet to see a single mask in the National Forest around us and we're out on a regular basis all year round. Not saying somebody isn't out there hiking by themselves and wearing one but there's always going to be the oddball.

Restaurants in CDA seem to be "self-governing". Red Lobster is still seating at 50%, Elmer's seems to be 100%, McD's lobby is closed to dine-in. What happens with Spokane County come My 5th(?) could affect our dining in NID again so keep tabs on that. The wait times went through the roof when our dining was open and WA was closed. What used to be 20 minutes turned into 1.5 hours. It's slowly trending back down the past month or so.

[Mister Torgue]

Originally Posted by MTJoe

Do the derailers still come in a bucket? Haven't had one in years.

I think what Volosong means by "not your typical beach setting" is that Lake Pend Oreille is massive but the "beaches" are not what one might expect from a typical body of water it's size. Not really crowded and many are accessible only by boat (referring to the lake as a whole not just within Farragut). Avoid Farragut on the weekends if at all possible. Last year they were closing the boat launches by 10am Sat/Sun because there was no parking available. I've never physically been to the public swimming beach (Beaver Bay?) but it looks crowded from the water. Thankfully it has taken some of the traffic away from the launch. Plenty of other creeks/rivers/lakes in NID to relax next to and enjoy a beverage without the crowds.

If you're overlanding then research the back side of PDO, Kingston/Cataldo, up to Calrk Fork, over to Thompson Falls etc. Maybe the Roman Nose area over to Priest? Wallace/Avery, Mullan to MT. Lots of travel between areas can be done on dirt roads here.

I have yet to see a single mask in the National Forest around us and we're out on a regular basis all year round. Not saying somebody isn't out there hiking by themselves and wearing one but there's always going to be the oddball.

Restaurants in CDA seem to be "self-governing". Red Lobster is still seating at 50%, Elmer's seems to be 100%, McD's lobby is closed to dine-in. What happens with Spokane County come My 5th(?) could affect our dining in NID again so keep tabs on that. The wait times went through the roof when our dining was open and WA was closed. What used to be 20 minutes turned into 1.5 hours. It's slowly trending back down the past month or so.

Thank you for your post. It’s informative!