Per my earlier post, my wife and I visited North Idaho as part of a business trip to Spokane in September. We had a great time, ate some excellent food and saw beautiful scenery. We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather and friendlier people.

On our second day in Sandpoint while eating lunch, my wife mentioned North Idaho would be a great place to retire to in a few years. A real nice couple at the table next to us struck up a conversation and ask where we were from, once we said Kentucky. Their response was “Thank God you are not from California”. I laughed and explained the California reference to my wife and let them know they had nothing to worry about from us.

If we wanted to come back out to experience a week of a North Idaho winter weather – what is considered the dead of winter there? We get a lot of icy weather and not much snow during an average winter. We were told it’s just the opposite there – lots of snow, not as much ice – is that correct? I want to make sure my wife understands what we would be getting into......

Usually an equal mix of snow and ice, sometimes well into March.  Typically, our worst is around the first week of January I’d say.

Thanks - my wife is already planning another trip. She really likes the vibe of the northern part of the state, told her we would have to visit during all seasons before we would even consider moving.

Unlike those from CA, WA and OR, we aren't really fleeing anything in particular except people. KY politics are fine, great gun laws and we have the homestead..... we are just in the triangle between Cincinnati, Lexington and Maysville. with the population spreading out.

Howdy current neighbor! I'm about 30 minutes east of Cincy along the river.

Really hoping to make the same move myself in a couple years, unfortunately, sans retirement. Took a roadtrip out to Sandpoint and areas nearby about two years ago, after doing some research on a couple different places to consider a future move to, and fell completely in love with the area. The weather is definitely a big reason I want to move there. Too hot and too humid in this area for me and I love the snow. Absolutely hated coming back here and wished I could have just stayed right then.

Good luck! Hopefully we'll be neighbors again in the future.

Hmmm,... curious.  were you watching a tv while eating?  and what was on?

Odd question.... but no we were eating at the pie place in Sandpoint and a middle age local couple over heard us talking the local food and joined in the conversation.

ahhh, The reason for the question was that I was in sandpoint around mid september, and we stopped and ate. ended up talking to someone from out of state.
 Would have been funny if we had met there.

Sandpoint is awesome year round. Winters are cold and snowy but not as cold as say MN or ND.

Schweitzer has world class skiing if you're into that.

I'm kind of lost right now and for some reason Idaho keeps coming into my head. I need a change away from big cities where I can get outside more... I'm kind of looking at the northern part of the state as well.

Any decent areas with cheap rent where I can find a security job or something up that way? I have some vacation time coming up and have been thinking about taking a road trip up there to check it out.