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.