We stayed at the Snake River RV Resort in Idaho Falls, ID, from July 7 – July 21st (2 weeks) for $705.12 (approx. $50/day). This resort is situated in a more industrial/farming area of Idaho Falls, ID, so there isn’t anywhere to go on foot, but the campground was nice and we got to meet a lot of nice people during our stay.
Pros:
- 2 dog parks, one at each end of the park. One is smaller, and the other is only slightly larger, but they are both fenced in and we were able to use the larger one to throw the ball for Winston.
- Swimming pool + hot tub (though we never used it).
- A short bike ride to a really nice paved trail system that takes you all through downtown Idaho Falls, even the actual Idaho Falls.
- The Verizon hotspot got pretty decent signal here, and we typically saw download speeds of 8 – 12 mbps.
Cons:
- The layout is a bit kooky, where sites face each other. We didn’t necessarily mind this, but it did leave to our picnic table being commandeered a couple of times. It also just felt like we had no privacy, and when we had really large families next to us, we had very little space.
- The spot that shared our plot was in constant flux. So there were constantly people moving in and out, which since the space was shared, also led to it feeling really uncomfortable.
Overall we had a great time in Idaho Falls, but you don’t need anymore than a couple weeks here for sure. The downtown area is small but really nice, with a couple great coffee shops and wine stores – albeit a lot of vacant storefronts as well.
On the very last day at this campground I sprained my ankle! I had just hitched the trailer and when I jumped out of the truck I landed on my right foot wrong and rolled my ankle so hard it literally stuck in this really terrifying angle. I used my weight to pop it back into place (an audible POP at that), and quickly broke down into tears from the avalanche of pain that followed. We were already hitched and I didn’t think I could do it again, so I called an Uber for a lift to an Urgent Care facility where x-rays confirmed it wasn’t broken.
Anyway, on with the rest of this post! Here are some pictures from around and just outside the campground:
Downtown Idaho Falls
Scarlett and I did some touring of the small downtown area on our bicycles a couple times and were delighted by the paved paths and beautiful scenery. Just like in SLC, there was also an LDS temple here as well!
Married 7 years!!
Scarlett & I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on July 15th. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been married for 7 years, and together for 12! Never in a million years would I think I’d be with the same person for so long, but here I am and I’m very happy <3 This year we celebrated our anniversary all weekend!
Friday – Wines in the Wild
The celebration started Friday night after work. We went to the Tautphaus Park Zoo for their Wines in the Wild event. The wine was cheap and not particularly great, but what an awesome experience!!! For such a small zoo they had an incredible selection of animals I had never even heard of before. They also had a live jazz band and tables set up throughout the park with a variety of wines for tasting. All but one table actually gave you a full glass of wine too, which was really cool.
Saturday – Farmers Market
Saturday morning we took off to the farmers market to buy some local veggies and checkout the scene. Once home we hung out with the animals, walked around the campgrounds and then chilled for the rest of the night. I finally watched the movie The Gladiator!
Sunday – Potato Museum & Lava
Sunday we did two really interesting things. First, we visited the Idaho Potato Museum (yes, that’s a real thing) and then we walked the Java Flow Interpretive Trail. First the museum. It was small but packed with information, antiques, and various displays. I learned there was a Potato God (of course there was!), Marie Antoinette (distant relative of mine) used to put potato blossoms in her hair and why, the origin of the nickname Spuds (then later learned it wasn’t true), McDonalds french fries are actually made out of sliced potatoes, and that even Idaho playfully picked on Dan Quayle for his misspelling of the word potato! There are potato comics and super heroes (I still don’t understand why), and before microwaves people used to hammer aluminum nails through potatoes to help them cook more evenly and faster (hello Alzheimer’s!).
The Lava Flow Interpretive Trail was just as interesting as the museum, and we were lucky to find it. The instructions given to find it are really difficult to follow, especially since we are not from ’round these parts. We tried once to find the interpretive trail, which is the portion of Hell’s Half Acre that has a paved walkway and acts as a self-guided tour using various signs to instruct on the history of the trail and plant life, but instead ended up parked in an area where there were actual trails. A thunderstorm was rolling in so we decided not to continue. After the potato museum we tried to follow the directions again and found ourselves at a rest stop. The trail is directly off this rest stop off of Northbound I-15. The most interesting thing I learned while walking this trial was how the lava came to the surface. I had always thought lava surfaced via a volcanic eruption, but that is not the case. Deep cracks in the earth’s surface can also allow lava to flow above ground and slowly cover the landscape in red-hot frosting. This is what happened in Hells Half Acre about 4,100 years ago.
