Esto Perpetua, Idaho!!

Lizzie Dog

What a great trip to Idaho!! It was wonderful spending time with Jerri and George and their cool rescue dog, Lizzie. And the area is about the prettiest we've seen. Temps were 80's for the high and 40's at night. It's rich with history, and loaded with natural fun! Did you know over 60% of Idaho is public? Beautiful forests, rivers, mountains! Wow! We learned so much this past week! (including butter and maybe cool whip do strange things in high altitude.)

8-4-10: headed from YNP to Dillon, MT enroute to Idaho. A couple of beautiful mtn passes between Bozeman and Butte (remember, pronounced “butt”). The one closest to Butte is called Homestake Pass. We were unable to get pix. If you have a chance to google, it has the most unique rocks I've ever seen. About the prettiest drive we've seen.

Snake River

8-5-10: around Twin Falls, ID, we saw some awesome views of the Snake River and canyons. And Northern Rockies. Drove thru Targhee Nat'l Forest. Stopped to read about Market Lake – it used to come and go.

Between Dillon and Twin Falls

Lava Formations

Lots of black rock which are lava formations. Interesting geological sites. Snake River Canyon at Twin Falls is stunning. Ate supper in Twin Falls at Idaho Joe's (good spot). Evidently, they don't get much rain there. A pretty good gullywasher came up while we were eating. We thought there was a wreck out front because everyone started saying stuff like “holy Hannah” and coming out of the kitchen to stand at the window. But it was the rain. I didn't share with them our tornado and hailstorm stories.

Finally!!!

We found a Sonic in Twin Falls!!!! woohoo!

Between Twin Falls and Boise

Between Boise and New Meadows

8-6-10: On to New Meadows, ID. Passed by Malad Gorge St Pk, Paradise Valley, more Snake River beauty, and many other state parks in some lovely country! Boise is a very pretty city. We also went thru Ontario, Oregon. I was so excited about going into Oregon for the first time. Before I could even write it down, we were back in Idaho. LOL. But that's ok, because Idaho is quite exciting also. Drove thru the Payette National Forest. Love forests!! Lots of Ponderosa pines and Douglas Firs (or, as I learned at Yellowstone, “Dougs”). Jerri and George met us at the camper and then led us up the mtn to their beautiful log home. What a sweet view from their “yard”! The view there would've been plenty for us! And the drive up there is about the prettiest we've seen.

French Creek

French Creek

Fern in French Creek

George and Jerri at Edmunson Cabin

David and Becky in the Wilderness

8-7-10: J and G showed us some gorgeous scenery today! Went thru McCall, Ponderosa State Park, Burgdorf, Gospel Hump Wilderness.  Saw French Creek and Salmon River.

Fingers Road

French Creek Drive

One of the mtn drives today was a steep switchback road called the Fingers. Narrow, dirt road that was VERY scenic. About the prettiest we've seen. Very fun!!! We stopped for a picnic near the top.

Huckleberry Bush

Rocky - Huckleberry Hound

Thx, Ms. Jerri

And stopped often to pick huckleberries. Yummy. Rocky spit out his first one. But he loved the 2nd. From that point on, he was hooked. He followed Jerri everywhere in the woods she went – he knew she'd end up with a handful of huckleberries. He got to where he could sniff them out pretty well, too.

Salmon River -- note the white beach

Wish I was rafting it

 Bridge over Salmon River

Rocky in the Salmon

Bridge over the Salmon

Lapping up the Salmon River

The Salmon River is big, beautiful, and fast!! It has thick white beaches that are prettier than any ocean beach I've seen. Rocky loved playing in the river!

Blackberries

And we got to pick blackberries at that spot! (He liked those, too).

Time Zone Bridge

Got to a town called Riggins, ID. A little north of there is the Time Zone Bridge which crosses over into the Pacific Time Zone. We saw river rocks embedded pretty high above the river in the side of a mtn – pretty interesting thought.

Brundage Mtn Lifts

Quite a Ride

On Top of Brundage

Always

David on top of Brundage Mtn

Not a bull - the ski slop "ambulance"

Atop Brundage Mtn

8-8-10: Another step toward conquering my fear of height! Jerri, David, and I rode a chair lift up to the top of Brundage Mtn. 7640 ft. Scary, but soooo beautiful! I'd def do it again! The view was about the prettiest we've seen!

David and George at the General Store in Roseberry

Jerri and Me at the Roseberry Bell

working the Roseberry farm

historical church/museum in Roseberry

Roseberry General Store

Stopping Traffic in McCall, ID

Downtown McCall

8-9-10: (I just noticed what this date looks like). The 4 of us went to Roseberry. Saw the old bldgs from the historic Finnish settlers. The town at one time had about 1000 residents. Then it fizzled and all but the post office was “moved” to Donelly. But a group decided to revive the Roseberry history and slowly but surely began moving the bldgs back to Roseberry. We enjoyed stepping back in time there. Northwest Passage filmed here.

Around Riggins, ID

White Bird Mtn Pass

White Bird Mountains

White Bird Mtns

Rocky 

8-10-10: Went to Grangeville today. I COULD LIVE HERE! Crossed back over the Time Zone Bridge and drove over the White Bird Hwy 95. OMG – that is about the prettiest we've seen! White Bird Mtns, Nez Perces White Bird Battlefield. Interesting story. This land is breathtaking! Jerri got several pix of David and me here. Unfortunately, none of them showed our heads. But good of Rocky. Haha.
Along the way we stopped at the Salmon River Canyon, which is awesome as well.

Heading to Hell's Canyon

From Hell's Canyon Drive

Hell's Canyon Drive

Hell's Canyon Drive

Crabapples?

After eating a yummy breakfast at Oscar's in Grangeville, we took a drive through Hell's Canyon to Pittsburg Landing in the Nez Perces Nat'l Forest. Another beautiful, narrow drive with a road that is suffering from erosion. But such great scenery! Lots of wild apple trees and cherry trees and unidentified fruits. We saw huge quail, 11 muledeer (3 of them fawns), and we were intensely looking for bears. At one very steep hillside, we all spotted something black and white near the road in the bushes. Stopped the car and started kinda freaking out. Our imaginations went wild! A black and white bear??? A person with an Indian head dress on?? (after all, we WERE in Nez Perces Nat'l Forest). Finally, it looked at us. Sigh. A black and white cow that roams free in the Idaho open range! Who woulda thought a cow would be grazing on such a steep slope?

Jerri and Me at Pittsburg Landing

Jet boat at Pittsburg Landing

Pittsburg Landing on the Snake is beautiful. Watched rafts and jetboats. On the way back we saw goldminers in the Salmon River.  That was a first for me. Getting tired and hungry. Craving that briskit that we started this morning at Jerri's before hitting the road. My recipe calls for a cooking time of 8 hrs. We were 30 minutes late, but what's another 30 minutes of cooking time? Got up to her kitchen and I commented that I couldn't smell it. I thought Jerri was going to fall down the stairs – she had forgotten to turn on the oven! That was some of the toughest meat we'd ever eaten. LOL.

Price Valley Drive

Lost Sheep

8-11-10: Last day in New Meadows. Took a drive through the Price Valley today. Boulder Creek, Lost Creek, Lost Lake. 6 deer, one wild sheep (not good for a sheep to be alone in the forests where wolves live). Discovered great camping sites – remote, but great. About the prettiest drive we've seen.

Ready to Roll

On your mark..

Taking a 4-wheeler drive

Back at J and G's house, David and George rode 4-wheelers up to the top of a mtn. David said George wasn't kidding when he said it was at the top. They had a wonderful view. Said our good-byes to our friends under a full mountain rainbow!!

Until Later, Friends!

Great trip!! Thanks, Jerri and George for sharing your state with us! Of all the places we've visited so far, Idaho is about the prettiest we've seen!

Now we are on the road to Creede, CO. Gonna take a few days to get there and will enjoy a few more sights along the way. Please pray for safe travel for us.

Would love to hear from you!!

More later,



Jeremiah Johnson and Sacajawea