Memorial Weekend Odyssey!

Ever since Tom and I became "empty nesters" we've used Memorial day weekend as an excuse to discover Idaho and the interesting things that are just a couple hours away. This year, we aren't exactly "empty nesters" with Devin and Sarah and family living with us, but we decided it was time for a little getaway so we planned a trip to the Twin Falls area. 

When traveling from  Boise to Utah we drive on I-84 and 

miss some pretty cool stuff, 

so we took the old highway 

(aka the Thousand Springs Scenic Byway) 

and took the time to see the sights.

The Hagerman valley is beautiful!

Before I-84 was finished, the highway used to go through Bliss. 

Not much has changed but they did add this really cool Sheepherder sculpture.

and wagon

We found Idaho's state horse, the apaloosa, on the way to find Idaho's state fossil, the Hagerman horse.

And we found the old Oregon Trail meandering along the banks of the Snake River

You don't find cool bridges like this everyday!

I've heard of Thousand Springs before but didn't realize there really are like a thousand springs just pouring out of the canyon wall along the banks of the Snake River in the Hagerman valley.

It is pretty impressive.

We spent the night in Twin Falls and got up the next morning and went for a hike along the rim of the Snake River canyon.

A view of the Golf Course in the canyon.

I think this is Perine Falls, next to the Perine Bridge.

A selfie of the hikers.

We had a delicious breakfast and then drove to Shoshone Falls.

If you've never been to Shoshone Falls you're missing out on seeing the 

"Niagara Falls of the west". 

They are pretty impressive in the early spring 

before irrigation season begins.

Then it was off to see some of Idaho's gems.

Really, here are some of Idaho's gems. It is the "Gem State" after all!

We've heard of and driven by the Shoshone Ice Caves our whole lives but we've never visited, so we decided that this was the year to finally make it happen.

It is a very interesting place.

The government owns the land that the big lava tube/ice cave sits on, but a family leases the land from the federal government and gives tours.

For $10 you can have a tour of the caves.

Here is our tour guide telling us about the Indians that used to live in the area

Yes, that is a cougar hiding in the rocks.

No the red door isn't actually original to the ice caves. In the 1920's, the federal government had the bright idea to blast the entrance to the cave to make it more accessible to visitors. Unfortunately they collapsed the lava tube and it changed the temperature of the cave and it was no longer able to make ice.

The family that leases the land, built a brick wall with a cute little red door and closed off the cavern again and brought the cave back to it's original temperature.

Penguins in Idaho?

Bear bones

20 feet of ice!

Entrance into the tube

If these sculptures don't make you want to visit the Shoshone Ice Caves, then you have no sense of adventure ;)

How often can you see an Indian riding a dinosaur?

Blackfoot is hoping to get this Indian statue to go alongside the sculpture of Dad's girlfriend (inside joke for my kids)

After our thrilling visit to the Ice Caves, 

we stopped at this antique shop in Shoshone.

It was definitely worth the stop, we had so much fun looking at all the stuff.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at an abandoned RV park outside of Gooding.

Nothing beats a $1 hotdog from Ridley's

Then it was more hiking at the little known "City of Rocks" outside of Gooding.

We had been to the "City of Rocks" outside of Oakley a few years ago, but Tom had heard of this area and wanted to check it out.

It was fun hiking around and seeing the "hoo doos" left from the same volcano that created Craters of the Moon and the Shoshone Ice Caves.

Our last stop was at the "Centennial Marsh" to see the Camas in bloom.

If you have ever seen a Scenic Idaho calendar, there is always a picture of these Camas flowers in bloom.

It is beautiful, especially with the snow covered mountains in the background.

We love Idaho and we love Idaho odysseys!