Thursday-Saturday, August 5-7, 2021 - Twin Falls and More!

Thursday-Saturday, August 5-7, 2021 - Twin Falls and More!

Thursday, August 5, 2021

The previous two nights we stayed up late - we are almost always in bed by 10pm.  It was 11:30pm Mon and after midnight on Tues.  We decided we couldn't continue that habit.  We were both dragging.  Last night we stuck to a plan and had a goodnight's sleep (Wednesday).  It sure made for a nice drive this morning from Homedale, ID toward Twin Falls, ID.

We left Homedale's Riverside Park at 9:36am.  We headed south on US Hwy 95, then to  County Rd 55, and finally to I-84.  We continued on it until the turnoff to Filer, ID, arriving around 1:45pm.   The Interstate really picked up in traffic around Boise and we were glad once we had passed through it.  After that the traffic really thinned out and it was a nice drive through the countryside.  Filer is a small town on the edge of Twin Falls.  We are parked at the County Fairground RV Park for the next three nights.  

Once everything was set up, as we usually do when it's hot, we turned on the AC and left for a short ride.  I wanted to stop at the local grocery store for a few things we needed.  I bought the nicest looking russet and sweet potatoes I've seen.  They looked almost perfect.  Maybe that's because we are in a potato state.  We don't eat a lot of potatoes, and when we do, we typically share one.  I couldn't pass up getting two of each kind, they were so nice.

We shared one of the russet potatoes with our leftover meatloaf.  Yum!

Tomorrow we have plans for some sightseeing.

Friday, August 6

As I mentioned yesterday we've had some crazy sleep schedules but we made sure we went to bed around 10pm.  I woke up shortly after 5am this morning - back to my regular schedule - at least I hope it is.  I made the coffee, then started a load of clothes.  

The first cup of coffee sure tasted good this morning.  Dean soon joined me and we talked about what we were going to do today.  It was raining and windy last night.  I woke up once and was surprised the wind was still blowing.  Dean checked The Weather Channel and discovered the high temperatures for today was 80.  Wow, that's quite a change from yesterday at 95+, but we are not complaining!

This picture is just how it looked outside this morning - heavy smoke and it smelled too!

After we both had our coffee, I made our morning shakes.  Dean showered while I did the dishes and made the bed.  A little later, he opened the door to see how cool it was, only to get a big whiff of smoke.  Ugh - it was very smoky and the smell was strong.  It was certainly not what we expected today.

Filer, ID  - love this tree in the middle of the street in the downtown area.

I needed to mail a couple of cards before we left Filer.  I couldn't pass up an opportunity to take the above picture.  I can see this decorated at Christmas in the downtown area.  Wouldn't it be beautiful!

We were not sure what we wanted to do first, so I suggested we drive to the Visitor Center in Twin Falls to pick up some information, hoping they might have a "map" layout of various things to do in the area.  We were not quite lucky enough to find something like that, but we did find enough information to put a plan together and it started right at the Visitor Center in Jerome, ID.

Snake River in Jerome, ID.

I was interested to see where the river originated and ended.  See the information below in the map showing Snake River.

The Snake River originates in Wyoming and arcs across southern Idaho before turning north along the Idaho-Oregon border. The river then enters Washington and flows west to the Columbia River.

The Perrine Memorial Bridge - an amazing structure.  There were steps on either side of the highway that you could climb to walk across the bridge.  We saw a few people doing this, but we chose not to.

It's a long way down!

Selfie

The Twins Sculpture

The bridge after we walked under it.

We had to walk underneath it - very noisy when a heavy truck passed over it.

Our next stop was at Shoshone Falls Park.  The park shown in the picture below was beautiful.  Everything was so green and nicely manicured. Speaking of everything being so green - everywhere we went things were being watered with sprinklers of some kind.  

Shoshone Falls.  I took several pictures but I'll just share a few of them.

When the river is higher, water flows over the rocks to the right of the large falls as well.

A close up.

What I think is upstream...?

We really enjoyed the Shoshone Falls Park.  It was a busy place.  Kids were having so much fun running in the park, releasing energy from being cooped up in a car, I'm sure.

By now we were both getting hungry.  We decided to stop at Red Robin.  We both like their burgers and we don't get the chance to go there often.  But when we stopped they said there was a 15 minute wait.  There were hardly any people in the restaurant, so we decided not to wait.  McAlister's was just around the corner so we stopped there.  We really like their sweet tea.  

Our next stop was Malad Gorge Dam where I took a few pictures.

The drive to the Dam

Waterfalls along the way

We love the farming areas around the communities.

So green and interesting how these rocks were just laying out in this area.

Water above the dam

As we left the dam.  Can you see the edge of a house behind the green clump of trees off to the left?  What a beautiful place to have a home!

We drive down to the entrance of the park, but we could not drive through without paying for a park pass, so we headed back to Filer and the RV Park.

  

As we left this morning, we had noticed a vegetable/fruit stand, so we decided to stop and see what they had before returning to the RV Park.  We purchased a watermelon and two cantaloupe.  When we went in to pay, what do you supposed they had at the counter?  Ice Cream!!!  We each had a cup of our choice - Dean loves butter pecan and I equally love coffee flavored.  They were both excellent choices.  

Once we returned I cut the fruit up - and our refrigerator is now full to the gills!  Lol!  We had a small snack of chicken salad with crackers and later we enjoyed the fruit.  Great evening meal/snack.

It was a great day.  Later, we took our trash up to the dumpster, then walked around the RV park area before returning to Bentley.  

Yesterday Dean asked if it was permissible to wash our RV and they said it would be fine, so that is our plan for tomorrow morning.  

Saturday, August 7, 2021

It was almost 6:00am when I woke up this morning.  It sure seemed cold this morning.  When I came downstairs I looked at the thermostat:

64.6 inside and 54.3 outside.  Yes, it was a little cool.  The middle temp is the freezer, and the one on the right is the refrigerator.  It's nice to have some cooler temps but it's supposed to get up in the upper 80's later today.

We had "work" to do today.  Dean headed outside to wash Bentley.  We inquired at the office when we arrived and they said sure, so today is the day.  He was outside shortly after 8, while I did laundry and spent some time putting some things away in preparation for our move tomorrow.

I went outside after putting the first load of clothes in the washing machine.  I spent most of my time cleaning the front part of Bentley, underneath the front cap.  It gets so dirty there with the truck wheels right in front of it throwing up dirt and tar.  It's not perfect, but he is almost 7 years old now.  It looks much, much better than it did.  

Before the day was over I manged to get two more loads of laundry done.  After lunch, we found a Walmart in Twin Falls.  Dean needed a few things and I needed a few more grocery items.  We needed to get fuel for the truck.  We almost croaked at the cost!  It was still less than $4/gallon but wow, that might have been the most we've ever paid for one fill up in the truck.  We needed Def for the truck.  Walmart was out, so we found a nearby Auto Supply store.  We were lucky to get it there.  Dean said there were only a few containers left.  Maybe he should have purchased two?

We returned to Bentley.  I cooked a couple of pork chops, peas and sweet potatoes for dinner.  I

have silicone covers for my pans.  While the pork chops were cooking, I took the cover off to see if they needed to be turned and the steam caught my thumb just below my nail.  Wow, did that hurt.  I was afraid it would blister.  I read somewhere once to use the clear portion of the inside of the egg - not sure what that is called - to help ease a burn.  I cracked one open and placed the clear part in a small container.  I kept putting it on my thumb throughout the evening.  (As I'm typing this Monday morning, there is no blister and no pain at all.)  It was greatly improved by the time I went to bed, so I believe it was helpful.

I asked Dean if he would do the dishes so I didn't have to put my hand in the hot water, and of course, he said he would.  He's a jewel!

We spent the evening just resting and enjoying a quiet evening.  Tomorrow we pull up the jacks and head east to Pocatello, Idaho for three days.