need suggestions for next weekend in northern Idaho

My husband and I are going to be at Bonners Ferry on Thursday 4/26/07 for some business. We want to take advantage of the opportunity and stay around the area for the weekend. We have time until Sunday afternoon, or early Monday morning.

Does anyone have any suggestions what we can do for the time we have there? And where to stay? We like scenic drives; we hike a bit, but are not harddore hikers. Is it too early for whitewater rafting yet?

By the way, we will have two dogs with us. We are flying a small single engine airplane, so we have different freedom and contraints from driving.

need suggestions for next weekend in northern Idaho

I should also add that we can always rent a car from wherever we land with our little bird.

need suggestions for next weekend in northern Idaho

Drive down to Sandpoint and check out the shops at Coldwater Creek, enjoy beautiful Lake P%26#39;end Oreille, and if you have the time, continue on to Coeur d%26#39;Alene. Lots of good restaurants, more beautiful lakes, etc.

You will be a little early for the full summer opportunities but Bonners Ferry is a great North Idaho small town not quite as ';touristy'; as Sandpoint or Coeur d%26#39; Alene. Here is the CoC web site: www.bonnersferrychamber.com It%26#39;s a little early for whitewater rafting, one operator (www.rowadventures.com) doesn%26#39;t start trips until mid May on the Moyie River just north of Bonners Ferry. There are several scenic drives in the area. As the previous post mentioned you can drive down to Sandpoint (35 miles) and have a wide variety of shopping and dining opportunities, you could continue on to the west and go along the Pend Oreille River and north up to Priest Lake (in my opinion the prettiest of the three large lakes in North Idaho, it may still have ice on the lake). Or from Sandpoint you could drive east along Pend Oreille Lake and into Montana along the Clark Fork River, then 10 miles into Montana turn north on Montana highway 56 along the Bull River and then back into Bonners Ferry on Highway 2. Another scenic drive would be north up into Canada (30 miles) to Creston, British Columbia, nice town, home to Kokanee Brewery (a popular regional beer in the Northwest), you would need the appropriate personal identification and shot records for your dogs. A scenic/hiking area just northwest of town is the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge (www.fws.gov/kootenai), it does have a small visitor center. You might want to check with the Forest Service Ranger Station south of downtown on US95 for trail status. Some low elevation trails in the Bonners Ferry area include the Snow Falls trail on Forest Service land southwest of Bonners Ferry and the Copper Falls Trail on Forest Service land north of Bonners Ferry. Both are short fairly easy hikes.

As far as lodging I haven%26#39;t stayed in Bonners Ferry but the most well known lodging in Bonners Ferry is the Best Western Kootenai River Inn (it has a Casino attached). There are several smaller hotels/motels both north and south of Bonners Ferry on US95. CoC web site lists several options.

Thank you for the suggestions. I think we will check out Priest Lake and the drives around Bonners Ferry. From reading a few other postings in this forum, I%26#39;ve gotten some information about Priest Lake and a few resorts around the lake. They all look interesting enough for me to ceheck them out.

In Lewiston, ID, we have our dogwood festival. Lots of things to do. The best is Art under the Elms. Lots of booths with crafts and other things to sell live music and stuff for the kids. Also great weather is a huge plus....