Impressions of Sandpoint, ID
The last stretch into Sandpoint. We turned off I-90 in Coeur d’Alene following the signs that said “Sandpoint, ID 43 mi” and “Canada 107 mi.”. We took two lane US95 north, went through the little town of Athol (really) and on to Sandpoint. We were now in the Pacific Time Zone and a long way from the northeast corner of Georgia. I have to admit I was ready to be off the motorcycle for a few days.
We spent a couple of days with our daughter and son-in-law in their tiny, tiny apartment on the corner of 2nd avenue, only a few blocks away from the city park and the big lake, Pend Oreille (pronounced more like Pond Array). Sandpoint is a pleasant city - very visitor friendly.
Some interesting items about Sandpoint:
(1) Pedestrians have the absolute right-of-way. When a pedestrian approaches the curb - all traffic stops immediately and waits for the person to get completely across the street. I have never seen this happen before and it was a bit un-nerving the first time or two to have cars waiting for me to enter and cross the street.
(2) I did not see a single franchise restaurant in Sandpoint - no McDonald’s, no Burger King, no Pizza Hut. There were nice restaurants on nearly every corner but no KFC or Wendy’s.
(3) Idahoans must really like their fine coffee- there were coffee shops everywhere, even mobile expresso shops like the Jumping Java Bus.
4) There must be old hippies in Sandpoint - I saw some flash-back vehicles and even saw a yellow submarine.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Hello! I stumbled across your posting…glad you enjoyed our town :O) You must not have gone north…where there is Burger King, KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Sub Way etc…..We do have 2 Starbucks with a 3rd on the way (why, I have no idea…). You know that funky little truck? It has been in so many print ads for various things! It is owned by the brother of Viggo Mortensen. It is AMAZING here in the summer as well. Happy travels!! :O)