Travel diaries: week seven
This week was full of experiences that we will never forget. We did a lot of driving, left Nevada and headed for Southern Idaho. What a difference in scenery, weather, and things to do! We were completely surprised by some of the sights and waterfalls in this beautiful state. Is Idaho America’s best kept secret?
Centennial waterfront park in Twin Falls
Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls is a must see! Bring a picnic for the park and watch the sunset on the “Niagra of the West.”
Thousand springs state park. There are several hiking and pull off areas as well as day use parks that you can use while checking out the springs.
Our cousins live in Boise, and were camping up in the Sawtooth mountains. They invited us to join them and we are SO glad that we did. We ended up crashing their camp in Stanley, Idaho and this is one of our favorite stops on the road trip so far! Absolutely stunning scenery, snow capped mountains, clear water flowing down the most perfect river through the town, hot springs… I thought Riley was going to leave me to finish the road trip alone! He was blown away by this town and everything it has to offer.
Most of these images are from the hike to Sawtooth lake which we HIGHLY recommend! It was stunning the entire way, we were amazed by this little slice of creation.
After hiking, soak in the hot springs to soothe your sore muscles. Really, what more could you possibly need here?! We found the “boat box” hot springs and spent a few hours down there enjoying the scenery, the deer, and wondering how we ever got so lucky ;)
We chose dispersed camping to avoid any costs and were next to a beautiful forest just off of the highway headed towards Boise. We had our first encounter with way too many mosquitos so we cooked dinner and jumped into the trailer as fast as possible. It was so relaxing to be in that early, enjoy dinner in bed followed by an amazing night’s rest. The inconveniences/annoyances can always be flipped into something better :)
The next morning we drove to check out the Kirkham hot springs. These were recommended by a few people and came up in a lot of blog posts about the area so we made sure to pay them a visit. We parked out by the road and walked in to save the parking fee. The springs are beautiful! Get there early, they are popular and crowded. We were there at 10am and had to wait for a spot to open up. This was right next to the river so you could mix the hot and cold water (moving rocks around to block or let in more of the river) to make it the right temperature. We felt so relaxed and are glad we stopped for a soak.
Idaho, you have our attention! We are already talking about family vacations out here “someday” because it was such an easy place to be. This land is abundant with beautiful scenery, kind people, and felt more like home to us than any state we have visited since leaving California.