Fall Getaway

My cute husband arranged for a mountain getaway this weekend. We drove up to Stanley on Friday afternoon. We stopped for a picnic along the banks of the Payette river and took a hike up into the sawtooth mountains on the way. We had dinner in Stanley and stayed in a cute little rustic cabin. Saturday morning we woke up to frost on the windshield. We had a great breakfast at a bakery in Stanley. We had the best supersized hot chocolate I've ever had. We drove from Stanley to Challis where we stopped to buy picnic fixings and then we headed to Goldbug Hotsprings which is almost all the way to Salmon, Idaho. It was a beautiful drive along the Salmon river. We hiked 2 1/2 miles up to the hotsprings which Tom says is his all time favorite (that is some recommendation because Tom has been to just about every hot springs in Idaho). We had a great picnic (rated 9.5) and relaxed in the hotsprings before heading back down the mountain. It still felt like summer and when we got back to our car the thermometer in the car said it was 91 degrees. We were hot and thirsty!! We saw deer, bighorn sheep, wild turkeys and bald eagles, plus the gold bugs that the hotsprings were named for. On the way back to Stanley we stopped in Bayhorse. It is an old mining/ghost town that the state of Idaho has been working on restoring. At one time more than 300 people lived there. It was so cool to see the old smelter, bank, and other buildings. We had a great time wandering around the old town and enjoying the beautiful scenery. We headed back to Boise and were able to pick up KSL and listen to the BYU game on the way home. The BYU win was the perfect ending to a perfect fall getaway!