Idaho

We arrived in Idaho:

And are camping in a campground right on the Snake River!  We have lots of trees so it keeps the campground cool, and we are fairly central to the cities in the eastern part of the state- Twin Falls, Pocatello and Idaho Falls.

We went into Twin Falls to get a rental car, then went to the visitor center next to the Perrine Memorial Bridge.  There are amazing views into the gorge where the Snake River flows:

The gorge is huge, and was formed when a natural dam collapsed, and the water rushed through the area and pretty much drained Lake Bonneville, which was 19,800 square miles and 980 feet deep at its deepest point and stretched from eastern Idaho and down through Utah.  That much water explains the size of the gorge!

A small remnant of Lake Bonneville is the Great Salt Lake, and that is where the Bonneville Salt Flats got its name. 

We walked a little on the rim trail and saw some BASE jumpers jump off the Perrine Memorial Bridge- CRAZY!:

We even saw one guy do a couple of flips before his chute deployed. 

Apparently BASE jumpers come from all over the world to jump off the bridge- glad we had an opportunity to see them, but pretty scary!  You can tandem jump if you want- NO WAY for me! BASE stands for the 4 main categories of objects they jump from: Buildings, Antennas, Spans (bridges) and Earth (cliffs).  See, you learn things here! 😉

We then went to Shoshone Falls, known as the Niagara Falls of the west.  The falls were created when water was diverted from the Snake River in the early 1900s to create lakes and canals to bring water to the valley for agriculture.  It also has a hydro-electric plant.  When we visited all of the falls were not “turned on”, so we didn’t get to see the whole thing flowing, but it was still pretty, and you can get an idea of what it looks like when the whole thing is running:

The next day we went to Pocatello, and on the way stopped at Register Rock, where many settlers in the 1800s signed their name as they passed by on the Oregon Trail.  It was so cool:

We also saw some ruts and trail remnants from the Oregon Trail:

It was amazing to see these, knowing they are over 150 years old, and imagining what people endured to settle in the western part of the United States.  There is so much interesting history, and we enjoy seeing the places and things that have shaped our country.  We also saw a recreation of Fort Hall, an old trading post that was used by settlers to replenish their supplies on their journey to California or Oregon, and by trappers to sell their fur pelts, like beaver and bear. Here is a beautiful mural in the museum:

This part of Oregon looks a lot like home (high desert covered with sagebrush, and crops where they have brought in water from the Snake River),

so we took a drive past the Craters of the Moon park:

up to Sun Valley, the ski town.  It was pretty, and you could see the lifts and the runs on the mountains. 

Sun Valley is right next to the town of Ketchum, and they were both packed with vacationers! We drove around a bit looking at the homes- or should I say mansions, in Sun Valley- wow!  I wonder where all the “normal” people live and how they can afford this place!

We spent our last day doing chores (laundry, oil change in the truck, getting everything buttoned down for travel- tomorrow we head to Nevada!