One of the first things I noticed about Idaho is the amount of factory farms there are, comparatively to the other states we’ve driven through. They don’t even try to hide them, lining up the cow feeding area alongside the freeway. The smell while passing these meat factories is almost indescribable…it practically singes your nose hairs with its toxicity. (Side note: I am not an animal rights activist nor am I vouching for veganism. Just an observation and a shameless plug to go organic, pasture raised and local when possible.)
We arrived at a tiny town called American Falls, just west of Pocatello, ID. The view was somewhat reminiscent of our stop at West Bend, SD, the RV park alongside a body of water — this time, a reservoir. As we routinely do, upon parking, Maia & I went for a walkd won to the beach area. Let’s just say it looked way closer than it actually was!
The wind was relentless driving into town, and we felt it more and more as we approached the water by foot. So much so, that the 60-degree weather was made slightly uncomfortable with the consistent battering of air and sand in our eyeballs. We put our hoodies on and tied them tight.
Once we finally approached the shore, we watched a couple of kite surfers take advantage of the conditions, zipping by to and fro.
Maia was more interested in the tidal pools filled with tiny fish and crayfish backing their thangs up at the sight of us big monsters. I helped a little guy struggling on his back by gently kicking him back into his watery home.
Adam and I were still full from lunch so Maia gobbled up a heaping pile of mac n cheese. After she fell asleep, we watched dudes smash’s each others’ faces in on ESPN (aka UFC) and dozed off by midnight.
On our way to Eagle the next day, we stopped at Twin Falls for some lunch at Idaho Joe’s. No, we did not pick this place because of its super cool name…it was one of the few higher rated restaurants actually open on a Sunday. We crossed a bridge over Snake River / Canyon on the way into town. As scenic as it was, we would normally stop for a quick photo op, but at this point of the trip we are just focused on getting to where we’re going.
The traffic in Twin Falls was reminiscent of the DC area, and one of the reasons we left. The drivers were pretty aggressive, too. We enjoyed a comforting meal of fried brunch food (except for Maia – she discarded the outside of the corndog just to eat the hot dog on a stick), serenaded by the clamor of the cook scolding the servers. Our server was super sweet though and obsessed with Maia’s curls, dress and cowgirl boots.
What was supposed to be a 2-hour drive into the Boise area ended up being over 3 hours due to bumper to bumper construction traffic. Another lovely reminder of why we left DC.
We finally arrived at our destination around 6pm, to our friends Cat & Terry’s gorgeous retirement home along the Boise River. More on this in the next post 🙂
The Welshs Voyage West! 