Another new state for us! We have been to Idaho before but not in the RV. This is our 41st state on our map. Idaho – the Gem State – with Famous Potatoes on its license plates.
BOISE
Our first stop was Boise – the State Capital. We stayed at the Ambassador RV Resort – which is one of the most manicured, clean, neat campgrounds we have stayed in. We thought it must be a brand-new campground – the concrete pads are clean and not stained. The strips of grass between the sites are all the same perfect green with no holes or dry spots. The round plastic picnic tables all look new. The rounded gravel, which is not hard on your feet, is pristine with nothing but maybe one stray leaf to mar its perfection. When I went to get quarters for the laundry, I asked how old the park was – I was surprised to hear it was 14 years old. Lots of hard, constant work by owners, staff and volunteers to keep this place up to this standard of excellence. We took a quick swim in the pool – perfect temperature, very clean and the laundry room was spotless – also a reasonable price of $1.25 for a wash load; $1.25 for one hour of drying. This park is very convenient with one turn off the highway – wide streets, no trees or boulders to make parking difficult and easy long pull throughs. We definitely recommend this campground.
We got out on Wednesday, September 5th, to check out Boise. It was warm – almost 90 degrees but we are used to that and it seemed a good day to discover something new. Boise is a large city – but it meets all our requirements for a good city – some murals and interesting public art; benches around the main streets; lots of shops to explore; great restaurants (we loved our lunch at Boise Fry Company – with delicious Idaho French fries and burgers); and even free parking for visitors near the capitol building.
We headed right over to see the Capitol. It’s big and beautiful from the outside, situated in garden settings on all four sides. We didn’t have a tour scheduled so we watched the introductory movie and then guided ourselves through the marbled hallways.
We’ve seen a few other capitol buildings and we want to see more. It is always a great experience to see the pride of State demonstrated in Corinthian architecture and design. Each building is a little showy but it’s great to see the history of the State and be in the actual place that keeps that State functioning. It was quiet in the hallways – the legislature was not in session yet, but that gave us free reign over the magnificent building.
The gold eagle on top of the huge dome, the marble floors and faux marble columns, Winged Victory and George Washington in Statuary Hall, the newly restored barrel ceilings, all completed the Capitol of Light and represented something everyone in Idaho can be proud to show off to visitors and residents alike.
We journeyed onward – from Boise to Twin Falls where we stayed at the Jerome KOA.
TWIN FALLS
After the immaculate conditions at Ambassador RV Park, Jerome KOA seemed a little muddy. But it is a typical KOA – lots of trees and grass and the mud will probably dry before we leave.
We took off on Saturday, September 7th for Shoshone Falls State Park. Our first stop was the Visitor Center in Twin Falls. Right outside is Perrine Bridge – the iconic span over the Snake River and its canyons. Not far from this bridge is where Evel Knievel tried to jump the canyon in 1974. We hung out near the bridge to watch the new daredevils parachute down from the railing on the bridge, glide smoothly over the water, and gently land on the shore. One jumper after another made the journey safely and gracefully.
The scenery right there is spectacular – a huge gorge, the greenish Snake River twisting through the cliffs – with kayakers on the water and these crazy jumpers from BASE floating through the sky. (BASE stands for Building, Antenna, Span and Earth – these folk jump from all of them.)
This bridge is one of the few locations in the country that needs no permits to jump. You just fold up your parachute, walk to the middle of the span (there’s a rail keeping the cars from hitting you); climb over the railing, jump, (or be a show-off and do a swan dive or a back flip from the top of the railing), guide your chute through the winds over the river, pick your landing spot and glide into it. Then you roll up the chute and climb the narrow steep trail to get back to the top of the bridge. Not something we will ever do but we can see what a thrill this kind of sport would be.
[It saddens me to add here that a few days after we enjoyed watching these jumpers, one of them died. It is heartbreaking to think of him – leaping off the bridge for an exhilarating flight only to have his parachute malfunction. He landed hard in the water; suffered major internal injuries. His wife, who also jumped but made it down safely, pulled him from the water and tried to revive him. How sad to think of her heroism and now her pain. Looking back, remembering how I fantasized that I had the courage to take a leap like that; remembering my joy at watching these free spirits jumping – and now appreciating the risks involved – gives this memory a whole new perspective.]
We drove about 30 miles to see Shoshone Falls. Just beautiful! Roaring waters over rugged boulders! This is a great state park, so we hung around and had a picnic lunch there.
We still had plenty of time left in our day – making the decision to do one more thing very easy. We went to Hagerman National Fish Hatchery. We like to explore the cycles of trout and salmon and this is one of the biggest hatcheries we have seen. There were lots of interpretive signs and some models of salmon and trout, and rows and rows of raceways – the areas where the fish live and grow. At this time of year, the only fish in the raceways were tiny fry. The rest had been shipped out to their new homes in rivers and lakes.
We may not have seen much of the live trout but when we walked over to the display pond and peered into the water – Wow! The White Sturgeon hanging out there were huge! One seemed to be over 6 feet long. Other than sharks, whales and dolphins, I’ve never seen marine life this big. I was shocked at the size of them.
This was a great day of exploration for us. We saw beautiful scenery, learned new things and had a fun time doing it
Since our experience at Kartchner Caverns, we have been exploring new caves. The Shoshone Indian Ice Cave was an entirely new experience for us. This is a lava tube with glacial ice inside of it. We took the tour, across a trail of aa and pahoehoe lava; down rocky steps and into a freezing cold lava tube. Immediately, you see expanses of ice. There is lots of water still seeping in and although some of the natural forces have been curtailed, it still has a feel of authenticity. Now we can add a lava tube ice cave to our cavern repertoire.
POCATELLO
Our next camping stop was in Pocatello. We stayed at Willow Bay RV Park in Pocatello. The sites in this park are large – long, long pull throughs and a nice big grassy area between sites. It is nice to sit outside and not even see a neighbor’s sewer connections. We even have two nice views – a grassy field with low-lying mountains out of our dining window and lovely Willow Bay out of our giant front window.
Our first night brought us a thunderstorm with the worst hail we have heard so far. We felt like our RV was being pummeled with rocks. But the next day showed no damage as far as we could tell.
We hightailed it to Blackfoot the first chance we got to re-visit the Idaho Potato Museum. With Doug’s life-long love of spuds, this was a mandatory stop. We had been there in 2000 on a long camping trip in our tent trailer with Amy and Julie. The museum has been updated but there was plenty we remembered from that first visit. Even so, we learned a few more facts about the potato industry. We stopped at the Potato Museum’s Café for a lunch of baked potatoes, of course. And we hit the gift shop for a few fun tater-themed souvenirs. We think we are the only family that has been to the two potato museums on North America – this one and the one on Prince Edward Island. Yes, we love our potatoes!
We spent our last day in the Pocatello area visiting the American Falls Fish Hatchery. We fed the trout, learned a few more bits of fish information and then returned to Willow Bay for a walk along the nature trail around the bay.
That was our last stop in Idaho. On to another new state for us – UTAH!
If you e we get back to Idaho, try Craters of the Moon Park. Unique among parks with its own unusual beauty.
We were there years ago. Very unique!