Meandering Through Idaho (08-27-17)

Our sort of, basic plan for the summer was to head to the Pacific North West. But, we got a late start, and as much as we have gotten into the groove of exploring new places, we feel like we are moving too fast and bit off more than we wanted to chew. So, we decided to slow it down a bit when we got to Idaho.

We have only spent 3 days in this state during our travels, and it deserves more.  Part of the reason why is because a lot of Paul’s family is from Idaho. We consciously made the decision to explore some of the areas his family is from.



Our first stop was the small town of Lava Hot Springs.  We knew nothing about this town except the fact that Paul’s great grandfather died here. We immediately fell in love with the walkability and fun atmosphere of the town. Once we parked the truck, we walked everywhere, including the hardware store, grocery store, library, museum, restaurants and hot springs.





Lava Hot Springs is known for their hot springs- no surprise. 

The RV park we chose had several things going for it. It was across the street from the Hot Springs Pools, where you pay to sit in hot water. The temperature of the pools ranges from 102 in the coolest pool to 112 in the hottest.  Hmmmm. 


Our site also backed up to the Portneuf RIver. As we discovered, ( mostly by hearing the laughing and screaming of the tubers) this is a great section of the river for tubing. Having never done that, it was high on my list of “let’s do this!”






With rain and cold temperatures in the forecast, we had to extend our stay by one day in order to have warm enough weather to head to the river, but that tied in to our “lets slow down” idea. We took advantage of the cooler day to check out the museum.


We were searching for information on Paul’s great grandfather.  Although we didn’t find much (they told us to head to Pocatello to find out more) we did see a book about ‘early influential settlers of Idaho”.

We asked for, and were given, a key to open the glass case, and white gloves to wear while perusing the pages of the book. And we did indeed find biographies of Paul’s 2nd and 3rd great grandfathers. Pretty cool.

We finished off the day at the Chuckwagon Restaurant. We understand this is where the locals go to eat, because the food is reasonably priced.  It wasn’t bad.








The following day was tubing day. Because of the rain the preceding day, they recommended that we rent a “quad” tube- big enough for 4 people and more stable than a 2 seater. Anything smaller than that, and they couldn’t vouch for us staying upright in the water. Smaller tubes have a higher tendency to flip.











So, off we went to the “put in” spot. We could only carry with us things we were willing to get soaked.  So, how did I have a camera?













Well, a while ago, Costco had a sale on waterproof cameras, and I bought one.  I tested it out in the pool in El Paso. 

Into the river we went. The first area we passed was a section of the river that is separated by a crude rock wall, because there are hot springs in that area. We actually returned there later, and soaked in the (free) hot springs instead of paying for the fancy, too hot,  hot springs.

Pretty soon we looked up and saw our rig along the banks of the river.

We paid for an hour of tubing, which allowed us to tube this section of the river 4 times. The first time down was a little hairy as we didn’t know what to expect.  I got a mouthful of water at one point.  It was good fun though.

We also paid for the shuttle, so we didn’t have to carry the big tube back up to the starting point.  If we had had smaller tubes, we probably wouldn’t have bothered with the shuttle, but I was glad we had the big quad.

I was less nervous, but had just as much fun, after the first trip down the river.  The weather was perfect- hot enough to enjoy being wet without 

shivering.

Total Eclipse of the Sun (08-21-17)

Originally  we  had no idea where we would be for the eclipse, and we weren’t that keen on it anyway. Once we realized we might be able to see the total eclipse, however, our plan was to head to Idaho, which is in the “Path of Totality”. We hadn’t booked an RV park because we weren’t even sure what state we would be in, a week ago.

We had heard rumors that things were going crazy.  Gas stations were predicted to run out of gas, food stores were not going to have any food left. It sounded nuts.  We thought we’d “wing” having a place to stay and we were comfortable just parking on the side of the road, if need be.

People were charging $100 a night, with a 3 night minimum, to park in a field, with no amenities. Others were blocking off their road frontage or charging to park there.

We were getting a little squeamish about “winging it”.

The friends we had just visited in Wyoming, Dianne and Tom, host a small campground in the path of totality.  I casually sent her a text, asking if they were totally booked for the eclipse. I assumed the answer would be yes and I would hear about all the craziness.


When the answer came back as “no”, Paul and I made a split second decision to head BACK to Warren Bridge.

Lucky us, instead of paying $100 a night- we paid $10- and got to hang out with friends!

So, it was crazy at the campground, its just that we were the ones creating the craziness!

The campground was actually on the edge of Totality, which meant there would be about 11 seconds of the total eclipse. 

Paul and I decided to drive down the dirt road a bit, on federal property, so we would have over a minute of totality.

It wasn’t too crowded and we had plenty of room to set up our own spot.

Once the eclipse started we donned our special glasses so we could look at it.

Actually, there are numerous ways to watch the eclipse.  Using the binoculars to project onto a plate was one of them, as was the “poke a pin hole in the plate and watch it” method.

I had read about picture taking and how it could ruin camera lenses, so I didn’t even bring my good camera.  This was taken using one pair of glasses for me, and another for my iPhone.
Not exactly impressive.

I did a tad bit better using the glasses to protect my small camera, while still protecting my eyes.

The lighting got a little strange and we started goofing around, waiting for it to get even darker.

Finally it started getting much darker…and much colder! The temperature dropped about 20 degrees in just a few minutes.

and just a few seconds later…

looking across the way, it looked like sunset- at 11:37 AM!

And then, all of a sudden, we had Totality!

As I mentioned, I had not brought my good camera, because I didn’t want to be tempted to use it.  I also didn’t bring my tripod, so my pictures are all handheld.

I did bring, and use, my small point and shoot Panasonic. I was willing to risk the camera because it has developed a spot on the lens anyway and I see a new one in my future. 

As soon as Paul said totality was over, I stopped taking pictures with the camera, just in case.  I have no idea what may or may not have happened to the lens but I didn’t want to find out.

So, where will we be in 2024?  Hmmmmmm….

Yellowstone, Part 2 (08-18-17)

Yellowstone is a huge park and is definitely NOT what you would call a “one trick pony”.
In addition to the wildlife viewing, there is tons of great hiking. While poor Randy worked, we hiked several trails with Liz.

Hellroaring Creek was a 6 mile round trip hike to….Hellroaring Creek.  To get there, we descended about 850 feet into the canyon.  The problem with that, of course, is that what goes down, must come up!

The views of the Yellowstone River were spectacular along the way, and once we were at the bottom, we crossed over the river on a suspension bridge.













Ordinarily I am not a huge fan of suspension bridges, but this is sturdy enough to handle horses, so it wasn’t an issue.














Far below, the Yellowstone River was a sight to behold!

We were all tired, but felt like we accomplished something after hiking that trail.













The other trail we hiked was to Petrified Trees.  If we had done the whole trail it would have been 1700 ft of elevation gain. 













Lucky for us, there are petrified trees to see after only 1000 ft of gain.

We took a break and had a snack while we enjoyed the spectacular weather and views..

Yellowstone is also known for its geothermal activity.  In addition to the impressive geysers like Old Faithful, just driving down the road you can see the hot spring and geyser activity.

The Old Faithful area of the park is extremely crowded, but we did brave it one day, hoping to see our favorite geysers erupt.

Old Faithful is not the most impressive geyser, its just the most predicable decent sized one.

Our favorite is the Beehive- It spews 200 feet in the air and the base is shaped like a beehive.  The wind shifted during the eruption, and we got pretty wet!

It was early enough in the day that we decided to eat lunch and then walk down the boardwalk and wait for Grand Geyser to erupt. There was plenty to see along the way.





As beautiful as these pools are, their blue color means that they are about 190*- too hot for most living organisms to survive.

After an hour and a half of waiting (Patience is necessary when waiting for geyser eruptions) Grand Geyser did not disappoint.

We took the loop road back to the RV, which took a while due to traffic jams of all kinds.

We are not the only ones who like to explore.  Dozer loves it when we are in a place where he can explore outside.

Naturally, all that exploring is exhausting!













Things became a little dicey when we had a couple of days of not so great weather. One day the sun didn't shine at all. As I mentioned in my last post, we are totally reliant on our two solar panels in this campground. If our batteries got too low, we were going to have to leave.



We were extremely careful in our electrical use, and took more extreme measures than we ever had before. We charged our phones, computer, and cameras either while in our truck or at Liz and Randy’s.

The furnace was kept off because even though it is propane, it uses some electricity. One morning it was 45 degrees when we got up- IN the rig!

Luckily, making coffee isn’t an issue- its almost as easy to boil the water and pour it into the coffee maker as it is to make it regularly ( or, maybe I just think that because I never have to make the coffee?)



Anyway, soon enough the sun came back out and our batteries were back up to 100%!

We ended up staying in Yellowstone just over a week.  We had a great time with Liz and Randy, and really enjoy this park.  (I stole this picture from Randy- thanks Randy!)

Next up is the eclipse…..were we in the path of totality?  You betcha we were!