Today, I decided to make a special trip over to Post Falls, Idaho to tour the Buck Knives factory and check out some other outdoors-related stores nearby.

The Buck reception area is quite nice. A huge fireplace dominates one wall, and there is a cozy seating area between the fireplace and the front desk. There is a store selling knives and apparel further back, and they sell prototypes, factory blemishes, and discontinued products at a discount. There is also a small museum upstairs showcasing products and advertisements from Buck history.

A warranty office handles walk-in claims. I was also able to get these replacements for two old pocket knives. One had a broken handle at the blade hinge, and the other would not lock open anymore. The Buck Forever Warranty is quite good.

The factory tour was informative. Almost all the production work occurs in-house, from stamping or laser-cutting the blade blanks all the way through final finishing. No photography was permitted on the tour, but I got a halfway decent shot through the museum window overlooking a portion of the factory.

There was a fair bit of work going on, and the usual factory smells of hot metal, oil, and assorted chemicals filled the air. I recommend the tour, whether you're familiar with manufacturing processes or not.

After the tour, I stopped by the Tedder Industries factory in an old outlet mall space. They make and sell Alien Gear holsters there. No factory tours are available there, but they can make holsters to order for almost any pistol, and I was amused by this sign in the parking lot.

After that, I meandered over to Cabela's. This may be the sporting goods mecca, but I may also visit Black Sheep further east in Coeur d'Alene, too. It's smaller, but sometimes has better prices. There's less of a pretension surcharge, after all. But Cabela's does have nice taxidermy displays and a huge fish tank. I also got a nice shot of the mountains from the Cabela's lot.

My last stop for now is S.O.S Surplus, just up the road. It's not far from Patrick McManus' descriptions of Grogan's War Surplus. There is a crowded and cluttered front shop with display cabinets and a small gun room, and then further back are huge warehouses stuffed with surplus gear, camping supplies, and odds and ends of all descriptions. Paintball markers and other hobby items are here, too.

Whatever your outdoors interests, Post Falls and Stateline Idaho have what you're looking for. And their sales taxes are lower than Washington!