Scenic Byways in Idaho for Two Days

Monday, May 11, 2014--Boise to Moscow

Idaho is a state with few people and a LOT of scenic byways.  Usually they are the old back highways rather than the newer, faster ones.  The first two days of our trip beyond Boise have been dedicated to following such highways as we slowly make our way around the state.  Today we went from Boise to Moscow which is the home of the University of Idaho.

Most of the byways we traveled today followed rivers.  Usually, old train tracks followed the same routes on the other bank of each river.  Among those we followed were the Payette, the Salmon, the Clearwater, and the Snake Rivers.  The names of the byways were the Payette River Scenic Byway, the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway.  The latter followed the route that Lewis and Clark followed when exploring a path to get to the Pacific Ocean and went through the Nez Pierce Indian Reservation, the home of the Indian tribe that helped them survive.  Along the way we went through canyons, valleys (both high and low ones), forests, and bare mountains.  Snowcapped mountains were in the distance on both sides of us at times.

There were small towns (most under 1000 people and only about 3 reaching 2000 or more) along the way, and few people lived between them except in the valleys.  Cell phone service was not available along most of the routes we followed.  The towns tended to still be "alive," meaning that they had stores providing most of the basic services probably due to the fact that they were so far from any cities.  The architecture was mostly western US style--false fronts, covered sidewalks, etc.  The closest town in Texas I could compare them to would be Bandera, TX.  One interesting thing I had never seen anywhere before was the system they used for pedestrians to cross the street:  Several of the towns had red flags on short polls deposited on each corner.  To cross the street safely, one was supposed to pick up a flag and walk with it hoisted high.  At the corner across the street was a place with more red flags where one should place the flag he had just used.

We stopped in two places along our route--McCall and Lewiston/Clarkston.  McCall is the biggest and most developed of the small towns along the way, although it has only about 3000 people.  It is a popular resort with lots of cabins, hotels, RV parks, etc.  It is on a lake which even includes sandy beaches for summer activities and has mountains in back of it for winter activities.  It also has a large ice arena for year-round use.  We walked the streets there to stretch our legs and take some photos.

Lewiston and Clarkston are border towns with the former in Idaho and the latter in Washington.  People travel back and forth for shopping, entertainment and education.  Lewiston has a very pretty old downtown with nearby Lewis-Clark State College.  Clarkston has a new shopping district with Costco, Wal-mart, and other major stores within 2-5 blocks after crossing the bridge between the two cities.  We ate at Costco for a late lunch/early dinner.

Our destination was Moscow.  We reached it around 17:30.  Our motel is just across the street from the University of Idaho campus.  After riding all day, we felt the need to walk.  We spent about two hours exploring the campus--determining which buildings housed which subjects, evaluating the architecture of both the older and the newer buildings, going up and down the streets housing the fraternity and sorority houses, watching the students play outdoor sports, etc.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014--Moscow to Coeur d'Alene to Spokane

This was a second long day of driving beautiful scenic byways.  We started the day, however, by touring downtown Moscow and then driving across the state line to explore downtown Pullman, Washington, and the Washington State University campus.

Both downtowns were nice, yet small.  They are tree-lined and mainly serve students at the nearby campuses with restaurants, bars, and specialty shops.

The campus of Washington State University sits on top of a steep hill.  We had to walk up sloping sidewalks and up many steps to reach the top.  It must be difficult for students to get around campus in the winter when there is snow and ice.  Maybe because of the hilltop limitations, many of the buildings had multiple floors--often 6-12 stories tall.  Most were functional while not being especially notable architecturally.  The new library building was one of the more interesting ones.  Although not very pretty when seen from the front, the rear had a long, curved wall and the building had a grassy park on the rooftop.  Also possibly due to the hilltop setting, the campus has few straight ways to go across it; the buildings are clustered together and require lots of twisting and winding to get from one to another.

Before leaving the campus, we stopped at the Ferdinand Creamery--an ice cream shop on campus that uses the milk from the cows within the agricultural program to make ice cream which is sold to the public.  I got a tin lizzy cone--vanilla with caramel and chocolate chunks.  Wes got a peanut-chocolate cone.  They were delicious and creamy.  I suspect that they use Jersey cow milk for that creamy texture.

The byways we drove today were the White Pine Scenic Byway, the St. Joe River Scenic Byway, and the Lake Coeur d'Alene Scenic Byway.  Each was different.  Along White Pine, we mostly went through tall stands of pine trees that were growing up the edges of the highway.  The St. Joe followed a wild river up into the mountains and was lined with many RV parks ready to be filled by summer tourists.  It required us to drive in and back out, since the mountain road we wanted to take to depart from the town of Avery was still closed due to snow.  The lake drive followed a very long, beautiful lake with a shore that is lined with beautiful homes and cabins.

We have seen many interesting sights as we have traveled.  We saw a huge fox that had been killed today.  It was tied to the back of a pickup truck which parked beside us when we were stopped in Avery in the mountains.  We also saw rainbow trout in the same town.  One interesting sight along all the routes over the past two days has been the old red barns that so many farms have.  They add to the atmosphere.

We ended our trip today in Spokane.  We are staying at a Howard Johnson's and will be here for at least two nights.  It will be nice to explore a town tomorrow and not spend so much time sitting in a traveling car.