IDAHO Sandpoint features the Spokane Symphony Orchestra along with other international talents. The town’s shopping and fine dining are major attractions any time of year. Experience theater from a bygone era at the restored Spanish-mission-style Panida Theater, built in 1927. Do a wine tasting while downtown at the Pend d’Oreille Winery, Idaho’s Winery of the Year in 2003. World-class shopping wouldn’t be complete without visiting the unique shops in downtown. A beautiful log structure on Sand Creek downtown houses the Cedar Street Bridge Public Market filled with all sorts of unexpected treasures. It wasn’t until the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern railroads arrived, that the town grew and became home to the Humbird Lumber
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Company, in 1900. At that time, Sandpoint became the Northwest’s leading supplier of cedar telephone poles. Today, Sandpoint is one of the West’s greatest railroading towns, known as the spot where the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Montana Rail Link and Spokane International rail systems all converge to create “The Funnel,” an amazingly active rail crossroads with more than 40 trains a day traveling through. Rail buffs come from around the world to see them. Follow Highway 200 northeast of Sandpoint to the Pend Oreille National Scenic Byway and the start of the loop’s Lake Pend OreilleKootenai River Super Side Trip (see page 33 for more details).
