Before we did Idaho, the kids and I went up to Utah and spent some time with my Mom and family. We had a great time hanging out, playing board games, going on popsicle-walks, and swimming at the Nephi Pool. I was also able to stop at the BYU Cougareat where I discovered that the Scoreboard Grill has been replaced with a Wendy's. So tragic. All those romantic memories wiped out...
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| Popsicles |
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| Heading back to Grandma's |
While we were in Utah, Ryan took a trip to San Francisco for work. He got to visit friends and watch some kind of fire dance. We timed things so that he could fly directly from there to meet us in Boise.
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| Apple HQ |
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| Mt. Hood |
On the first day of our Idaho trip, the kids and I left Levan and headed north. By early evening, we made it to our first stop, which was Shoshone Falls. I remember visiting this place so many times with my grandparents when we lived in Twin Falls with them. The power boxes at the park all say Niagara Power, so I honestly thought as a kid that this was Niagara Falls.
We met Ryan at our Air BnB in Boise, and went the next morning to a place called the World Center for Birds of Prey. We saw a bunch of different captive raptors, educational displays, and a class on Swainson's Hawks. Afterward, we went on a long driving tour of the wild areas around Boise.
On day three, we started with a visit to the Nampa Fish Hatchery, then went to the Old Idaho Penitentiary, which was both interesting and disturbing.
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| Old Idaho Penitentiary Prison Yard |
The next day was our drive from Boise, through Riggins, to Lewiston and Pullman. We found a lady's wallet in the park in Riggins, and I was able to find her on facebook and get ahold of her. She had passed through a couple days ago, but had a relative in Riggins I could drop it off with.
In Pullman, we stopped by my favorite childhood playground - Sunnyside Park! I was really surprised to see most of the same ancient playground equipment, including the merry-go-round and rickety metal slides. The kids decided that merry-go-rounds need a comeback.
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| Park Rooster |
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| Lewiston Grade |
We spent that night in Moscow (Ryan and I had a great dinner date that included crispy Palouse Garbanzos.) The next morning we attended church at a university family ward, then went back to Pullman to check out my old house on Joe Street. My family humored me while I walked the path from my house to the elementary school. It was sooo weird - it looked just the way I remembered it in second grade!
After I had gotten that out of my system, we went to Kamiak Butte and hiked around. We even did our Sunday school lesson at a picnic table there - it was beautiful. We made it to a hotel in Spokane Valley that night.
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| Beth's House (and Tree) |
On Monday, we went to Coeur d'Alene, visited the carousel, and paddled around in the lake!
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| Cheap Gas |
Tuesday was spent at Triple Play Family Fun Park in Hayden, Idaho. This place had bowling, go karts, mini golf, and a bunch of other video game/laser tag type stuff. The temperature that day was around 100 degrees.
We eventually woke up the next day and started our trip back through Montana.
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| Hippie Baby! |
In Idaho Falls, we stayed in one of the grossest motels I've ever seen. That morning, though, we had pie for breakfast, so it was okay. We ate it in the park near "Idaho Falls", which is much smaller than I'd imagined. A storm was coming in, so the pie started to blow away at one point. Later that day, we stopped at the Idaho Potato Museum, which was pretty small, but it had the greatest singing potato-head family in the basement.
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| Grandma Liked This |
After a night back at Grandma's house, the boys had to hurry home for baseball and seminary, but the girls got to stay and party just a little more. My mom convinced me to buy myself a ukulele, and we had tons of fun practicing together. We even stopped at Grandma Cloe's retirement home together on our way back to play/sing to her. I was careful to keep the ukulele inside the hotel room that night, out of the Nevada heat.
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| Kolob Canyons |
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| Hiking with Celeste |
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