I'm Your Huckleberry

I woke up in Idaho Falls with the Snake River right out the window.  The falls are nice and I stopped to take a look before today's drive through the Snake River Plain across southern Idaho.

Driving through the Snake River Plain is mostly flat and straight and not a lot of people live there.  We stopped in Arco, ID, population 995, for gas and that was one of the bigger towns we saw.  Arco claims to be the first town in America lit up by atomic power.  

Numbers on the side of a butte in Arco, ID.  Illuminati...

We also stopped in a town called Carey, population 604, which made me think of Jen Carey from LHS.  We stopped at a gasmart and and when my mother went in I asked her to get me the usual - a Snickers and a 3 Musketeers, my driving essentials.  

Carey, Idaho

Road warriors

 This is what it looks like to drive though the Snake River Plain.

Located in the Snake River Plain is the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.  The volcanic rock is impressively black, and so was the wind that made me want to stay in the car.  

A lot of southern Idaho looks scorched, whether it's black fields of lava or desperately dry desert-looking farm land.  Many rivers and reservoirs appeared on the GPS that no longer exist.

At Craters, we settled in for the next destination - Idaho City.  My mother requested that we go to Idaho City because one of our relatives made his way to Idaho City in the 1860s to prospect for gold.  My mother is big into genealogy.  I figured we could stop there before spending the night in Boise.  Since it was her special thing I put on music I knew she would like - my Irish Hit Parade playlist that I made for the trip to Ireland in February.  Before I knew it I was pounding the gear shifter to Flogging Molly's Float.  

Route 20 to Boise was long and mostly straight.  We turned off for Idaho City at the edge of Boise and headed north into the Bosie National Forest to find Idaho City in the foothills of the Sawtooth Mountains.  The Lucky Peak Lake area was nice and then as we followed the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Route along Mores Creek the roads twisted and kept me on my toes.

Idaho City seemed like it had changed very little since the 1860s, except that people back then were probably cleaner and dressed better.  We drove down Main street and Montgomery street and were scoping out places to have a meal.  Gold Mine was the obvious choice.  Jim Callahan told me I must have finger steaks while I was in Idaho, so I did.

Finger Steaks

After we ate I thought I should have ice cream from the Sarsaparilla Ice Cream Parlor.  After scanning the flavors I had to have Huckleberry Heaven because I'm in Huckleberry country.  The huckleberry is native to the northwest because it requires elevation and acidic mountain soil.  It is the state fruit of Idaho.  The ice cream was delicious, it tasted sweet and rich.

Downtown Idaho City

There was a lot of driving today, but there'll be more tomorrow, over 500 miles to Sea-Tac.  Idaho is a big state, bigger than all of New England combined, but with the population slightly more than New Hampshire.  I'm in Boise for the night and I'll be heading up the Oregon Trail in the morning.

Main street, Idaho City