I-DA-HO!

 

We were looking forward to cooler weather.

After spending two weeks in Utah with my cousin and his family we headed north to Idaho. Utah was starting to get a little too warm for our taste.

Our first stop was Lava Hot Springs. Lava Hot Springs is a little town built around natural hot springs. They have a water park, and community pools built on the springs.

 

Floating away in the hot springs!

We camped in an RV park in a little town called McCammon, Idaho about 12 miles from the hot springs. The RV park was nice, quiet, and shaded. There were only two other RVs in the whole park. I don’t know why, it was a nice park, pet friendly, and had a good location. No Wi-Fi or cable, but there were full hook ups with a picnic table. The price was decent so unless everyone else knows something we don’t, the park was great.

While getting set up we met a couple who were also camping in the park. After talking with this couple for a few seconds I was immediately reminded of the character Walter from Jeff Dunham’s standup routine with the puppets. Nothing suited this gentleman, he was sour, and life had just given him more lemons than he could use.

 

We couldn’t get away from this couple fast enough.

He was angry their kids didn’t visit. He was angry that they owned a motorhome. He was angry that the sun was shining. He was angry that Tracy and I were young. He was just angry. Tracy has a knack for just walking away from people. For me, it just seems rude to walk away from someone when they are talking to you. I eventually had to gather the strength to walk away. He was probably angry at me.

 

Once we crossed the state line into Idaho we had stopped at the Visitor Information Center and picked up a couple of brochures and maps. We learned that the Lava Hot Springs community pools closed at 11, and that after 8 they were half priced. So we decided we would go in the evening and enjoy the hot springs after dark. We arrived at the hot springs just after eight. The temperature was still a little warm and the sun did not set until almost ten that evening, but the hot springs were nice.

The Lava Hot Springs Community Pool consisted of five different pools. Each pool is a different temperature. They hottest and least used pool was 112 degrees, and the coolest most used pool was 104 degrees. Naturally, Tracy wanted to jump right in the hottest pool. I enjoyed the next warmest pool that was 108 degrees. The pools are spring feed with mineral water. No chlorine is used in the pools. We enjoyed the evening and floated around in each one. We felt very relaxed and slept like babies that night.

Lava Hot Springs, Idaho: Tracy's favorite, the hottest pool available.

We spent some time shopping in Pocatello on our way to Arco, Idaho.

My father went to high school in Arco about a million years ago. My grandfather was a contractor for the ERB-1 Nuclear Reactor. Tracy, Doug, and I got to tour the old EBR-1 National Historic Site. It was quite cool to get to see this, not only because my grandfather worked there, but because this was quite an engineering feat back in its time, but Homer Simpson was the only thing I could think about while touring the site. Just a note:  EBR stands for Experimental Breeder Reactor.

EBR-1, Atomic City, Idaho



EBR-1, Atomic City, Idaho

EBR-1, Atomic City, Idaho

Tracy, AKA Homer Simpson
playing in the  museum

The ancient controls fascinated me.

The ancient robotics fascinated Tracy.

The cold floor fascinated Doug!

Homer and Doug hard at work.

WOW! Technology of the 1940's and 1950's is scary by todays standards.

Sadly, there were only a few pictures of the construction phase displayed at the museum.

I had hoped to find pictures of my grandfather in the room designated to the construction of the unit. The curator told me I would have to go back to the county museum in Pocatello to look through their archives. I opted not to travel back.

I felt a little uneasy seeing this sign.

 

The Good Ole Days! I had a good laugh at this sign.
Its from the same era when cigs were good for you, and four out of five doctors
recommended Pall Mall or some other brand.

After touring the EBR we decided to find a camp site.

I had read about a gentleman who let Campers stay on his land for free and we decided we would give it a try. We meet all kinds of people and if it did not feel right we would leave.  

Our camp site in Arco, at Honey's Park.

 Our host, Scar, turned out to be great!

 Scar is a retired electrical engineer who is just lonely and enjoys the company of people stopping by, and we enjoyed his hospitality. He enjoys hunting and will take you out to his favorite shooting ranges if that is your thing. Otherwise, he just likes the companionship and meeting new people.  

He calls his land Honey’s Park, named after a beloved dog. He currently has two dogs which are just beautiful. The female is a red hound named Ruby. She is a rescued bear dog. Ruby is trained to hunt and track bears. What I did not know is that dogs used to hunt bears are trained with cats. Poor Boss Lady had to be kept under lock and key. Boss Lady did not recognize this as a favor, or as a necessity to keep her safe. Boss Lady was mad!

The male is a Visila, named Stig. He was stray that just wondered up one day and stayed. He could care less about Boss Lady or Doug.
 

Ruby.

 

Stig, and our host Scar.

 

In 1955, Arco, Idaho became the world’s first nuclear powered city. What a claim to fame! The town is rather remote and sparsely populated so it is no wonder why it was chosen to be the site of the world’s first nuclear power plant. 

 

Our sunset in Arco.

 

Have you ever gone someplace and instantly felt at home?

The people are just the kindest souls we have met on the road. They were so kind and hospitable that I had to wonder if it was the heat or the radiation that baked their brains. It’s not every day you meet a town full of people that are ready to just open their lives and homes up to strangers. They were all very helpful in locating an old high school friend of my fathers. I guess in a town of 995 people you get to know each other quite well.

 

The main drag in Arco, Idaho.

 

The main drag in Arco, Idaho.

 

The main drag in Arco, Idaho.

The Suicide Count. 

 

 The Hill of Numbers is where each graduating class in Arco has painted the last two numbers of their graduation year on top of the mountain. This has been going on for almost 100 years. There is no rhyme or reason on the placement of the numbers, they appear to be randomly placed in most cases. The favorite local story is that the numbers represent the number of suicides each year. I guess Scar seemed pretty convincing when he told the story because Tracy had to clarify with me that the numbers really were graduation years. I had a good chuckle, because Tracy is not normally that gullible.

 

The Hill of  Numbers

 

Why in the world is that the United States has more than one national park full of old lava flows? Is one just not enough?

To the South of Arco is another National Park that consists of lava scorched earth. Craters of the Moon National Park is 30 miles to the south of Arco and we decided to check it out. As we drove through the paths and bitched about the heat, I flashed back to our time in New Mexico at Valley of Fires National Park.

Our experience at Valley of Fires in New Mexico was bad enough. Our stay at Valley of Fires was so bad we found pebbles embedded in the side of the Big Lebowski. We had heard pebbles pelting the side, but did not think they were getting stuck in the side. We did not stay very long at Craters of the Moon. It was so hot I was worried abut melting the car tires.

I always make sure WACO is represented.

 

Craters of the Moon. It was blazing hot!

 

Craters of the Moon. It was blazing hot!

  

Craters of the Moon. It was blazing hot!

 

There was a heat wave predicted for the North West and we wanted to beat it.

 

The temperatures were starting to heat up and Arco, Idaho was not spared this summer. We decided to leave Idaho and head over to Oregon and Washington to find cooler weather. We got up early the next morning and headed towards Oregon.

 

We decided to camp on the Oregon side of the Snake River. I was so excited to get to spend a few days floating in the river. We go up and headed out of Arco around 6 am, before the temperatures started to rise.

 

Our escape was slowed by a mowing truck through the mountain pass.

I was ready to get out and walk.

 

Imagine my irritation when we slowed to three miles an hour behind a mower, while trying to get through the mountain pass between Arco and Boise, Idaho. Naturally, we were in a no passing zone with a steady stream of traffic from the opposite direction when we got to  passing zone. We eventually made it to Oregon that afternoon.

 

 

We are no longer chasing Big Foot in the Hoh Rainforest (future post).

 

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with us. We are now back in a populated region with cell and Wi-Fi reception. That means we can start posting on a more regular basis again. The next post will be about our time through Oregon and into Washington.

 

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