Deer Park, WA to Sandpoint,
ID
72 miles
The last riding day of the first week. We left camp and quickly made our way to Newport, where most of us didn't intend to stop, but we were compelled to by a great grocery store and soda fountain (picture below). Then it was off to Sandpoint, one of the bigger and busier cities on our trip. After some shopping and eating, we continued on to our stop for the night.
Our stop for the night was supposed to be the KOA, but we found out in the morning that it was closed due to flooding. Luckily, I had just canceled a reservation for a stay at the Bottle Bay Resort, so there was a free room there (rooms in Sandpoint are hard to come by due to this weekend's Lost in the 50's celebration). Another room later opened up due to an unexpected illness of the business partner of someone who was planning to come.
Sandpoint is the current home of Mark Furman, by the way, but the picture I took of the sign advertising books autographed by him didn't come out.
Here is the inside of the soda fountain, complete with the original
bar from a tavern that opened in the 30's:
We left Washington for Idaho:
A full river:
Nice scenery:
Deb, Mike, and Mark B. at the bar by the lake (this picture was seriously
backlit, so I attempted to compensate electronically so that the faces
are somewhat visible, but I may have made it worse):
Words and pictures from the last two days uploaded thanks to the Bottle Bay Resort, 208/263-5916.