Waiting In Idaho

Hey Guys!! We spent a month in Twin Falls, ID as we waited to see what would happen with the whole Covid 19 thing. Places are still slowly opening up but most National Park Visitor Centers are still closed. There’s been talk of state border crossing check-points but we haven’t seen anything about the states we’re near. Right now, it’s all just wait and see for us as to whether or not we’ll be able to continue our National Park Tour this year.

The second week we were in Twin Falls, the Visitor Center at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument opened up so we took a chance and went to check it out.

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument is most known for the Hagerman Horse but the monument has many different types of animal and plant fossils. We were hoping to get to hike to an area where we could see where some fossils were found…but there’s not a trail for that. In fact, the only fossils you’ll find (unless you want to hike an unmarked trail by the river where mud and snakes are often found) are in the Visitor Center.

This area has sediment layers that span 550,000 years to 3.15 million years old. Hidden in the layers of sediment area countless fossils. Due to the shifting of the river and the frequent earthquakes, more fossils are found often.

We felt like this NP unit was…ok. The lack of hiking trails was a bummer and the inability to get to a place to see any fossils was also a downer. Also, the Rangers wouldn’t stamp my cancellation book due to the virus, but they would gladly handle our cash… um… that really stinks.

We spent a Saturday exploring Thousand Springs State Park. Well, actually, we only made it to one of the five units that make up this state park…the Niagara Springs Unit. We saw so many waterfalls at this state park! We also found an abundance of marmots. So…many…marmots!

We spent some time gazing at the Shoshone Falls. You can find these falls at the Shoshone Falls State Park in Twin Falls. We spent a morning there walking the trails and checking out the lake. Shoshone Falls is called the Niagara of the West and it really is a must see attraction if you’re ever in the Twin Falls area. At 212 feet, Shoshone Falls is actually taller than Niagara Falls. There are some amazing overlooks that are super easy to get to plus there’s a great trail that takes you up above where you can see the falls and the snake river. Did you know that people have been visiting the Shoshone Falls since the mid 19th century? Yup, travelers along the Oregon Trail would take a little detour just to see the falls. If you’re going to go, visit in the Spring when the water is at it’s fullest.

One of the coolest things we saw while we were staying in Twin Falls…people base jumping off of the Perrine Bridge. Some locals told us that if it’s a nice day then there will be someone jumping off the bridge. Apparently, Perrine Bridge is one of the only bridges in the US that it’s legal to base jump from.

One Sunday morning we got up and headed down into Snake River Canyon. We found a little hiking trail and saw so many waterfalls! We were really surprised by the number of waterfalls we found in this area! We don’t often have time to thoroughly explore an area. Usually, we only have two weeks at a location and we almost always have our adventures pretty much picked out and set. It was kind of nice to have so much free time in an area where we could really explore so much of it.

We celebrated Nicholas’ birthday while we were in Twin Falls. I can’t believe my baby is 16. Time really flies! He’s also the tallest right now…which he just hates. *wink, wink*

We played a lot of board games and I baked a lot of sweet treats. I stress bake and this year has been on the stressful side of things. So…I’ve been baking pretty much non-stop.

We found some foodies. Just a few. Actually, we didn’t eat out all that much. We’re still trying to take one of the kiddos to lunch each week. Sometimes we get to dine in and sometimes we have to find a park or view to enjoy while we have lunch, but it’s always so nice to get some one-on-one time with one of the boys. We also took advantage of being close to a Dutch Bros! They are the best coffee shop but we don’t find them too often. And yes, that’s whipped cream on my blended chai. mmmm….

The late spring/early summer flowers were showing off for us!

We found the potatoes that Idaho is so famous for. So…Many…Potatoes! Huge fields of them!

Oh yeah, and a boat ran into us. Yup, you read that right. A boat ran into us while we were parked at the RV park. Does this kind of thing happen to anyone else? No? Just us then? Oh well, never a dull moment…

That’s it for the Twin Falls area!!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour