East to Idaho!

While we were still in Bend, we visited Tumalo Falls.  It started as a beautiful day, and we were all needing some time in the sun.  Jeff read that the walk up to the falls is about 2 miles, but we can't say for sure because we were stopped by a freak hail storm and turned back.  Have I mentioned how insane Bend weather is?  Well, it is!  But we did enjoy the time we spent up that way and hope to go back to do the whole hike when we are in Bend again.  

After we retreated from the Tumalo Falls hike, we drove into Bend where, surprise, the weather was beautiful.  Jackson wanted to shoot his BB gun and we heard that China Hat was the place for that. We didn't have to drive far to find a good place to stop.  

I scored some really nice, new shoes for Jackson at a garage sale about a year ago, and this was the day he broke them in. Of course it was a day that we were going to play in the dirt!  Not my most brilliant mom moment, so I guess it's good that I only paid $5 for them.

We also drove back up to Sunriver Nature Center one morning, and found the bird handlers were taking the birds out for some vitamin D.  It was so neat to get an impromptu science lesson!  She also invited us to get up close, so we got to examine the raptor and the owl.  We are bird lovers, especially Meg, so this was awesome.

Also while we were in Bend, Jeff and my Dad designed and built this trundle bed for the girls!  It has been wonderful for us!  No more putting up cots and folding up bedding each day.  And the footprint is much smaller than what we had before, so there is a lot more room to move around when the kids are sleeping and we are up, having our morning quiet time.  This is huge for me!!!

Crown Villa RV Park, where we stayed, only had a free spot until the 25th.  Since we weren't ready to leave yet, we parked the RV at my dad's train club and spent a week with my parents.  It was only supposed to be 4 nights, but the day before we intended to leave, Jeff noticed that the steering on the truck had quite a bit of slack in it.  We found out that these Silverado trucks have a problem with some nut in the steering box loosening.  Thankfully, the local Chevrolet service center was able to get us in pretty quickly and fix the problem.  This travel life means being flexible and rolling with whatever comes up.

Once the truck was fixed, we hitched up Kevin and headed for Idaho.  Our first overnight was spent in Caldwell, Idaho.  It was a cute little park called Country Corners.  We were only there long enough to do our grocery shopping and sleep, but Jax and I walked around and were really impressed with how nice the grounds were.

There is a grassy area with picnic tables, and a fenced dog park close to that.  We could tell that the family who run this park work hard to keep it in pristine condition.  It was beautiful and peaceful.

After that, we moved on to Filer, Idaho, which is just outside of Twin Falls.  This was our work week stop, so we chose a full hookup spot at the Twin Falls Fair Grounds.  It was a wonderful surprise! Reviews said that this was basically just a grassy parking lot, but as it turns out, we really like grassy parking lots!  We pretty much had the whole park to ourselves, which made the week so peaceful. Since the weather was great, we spent a lot of time outside.  We did school outside, played with the dogs, went for walks, BBQ'd, and played games.  All outside!  One whoops was that our children haven't seen the sun much since we were in Arizona, and Jordan got burned. She was crocheting outside in a spot that was shady, but the sun moved and she ended up cooking her right side.  Poor little Irish girl was hurting the next day and is still healing.  :(

Coming into Twin Falls on the Perrine Bridge.

This was our spot at the fair grounds.  You can see our only neighbors were to the right.  On the left was an empty horse trailer.  Jeff said he wants to stay at more places like this.

Sunrise walk.

Jordan has been asking to go hiking every day, so we went on the Snake River Rim Trail one morning before work.  It was a nice little walk, which we all enjoyed.  Jordan said that this "hike" was no hike at all, though.  She said, "If it's paved and has fences, then it is NOT a hike!  It is a WALK on a ROAD."  I hadn't realized she was so hardcore!  Haha.  I told her I would make sure the next hike was more rough going.  :)

On Saturday, we loaded up and went to see Shoshone Falls.  Whether you pronounce it "Show-shown" like the locals or "Show-shown-ee" like my kids, it is still an incredible sight!  Wow!  

The falls are at a 20-year high right now, due to the heavy snowfall last winter.  I don't know what they are like normally, but when we went it was so loud and so wet!  We would have loved to have taken more (and better) photos and video, but needed to quickly put our electronics away to protect them from the heavy mist.  

The falls help to power the city through a hydropower project that the state runs.  I read that Idaho has 17 locations on the Snake River that provide power to surrounding areas.

Jordan said, "I cannot stress this enough:  THIS is my favorite place EVER!"  Honestly, we were all feeling a little dazed and amazed by it.  No wonder they call it, "The Niagra of the West!"

Here's a little video of our week.  Most of it was recorded on my phone, so apologies for the poor camera work.  ;)

I joked that we all got a shower at Shoshone Falls.  We were soaked, but happy.  And to think we almost skipped it! 

We just moved to a much different location.  For this work week, we drove south and ended up in a beautiful place, known for skiing and Olympic greatness.  Can you guess where?  I'll blog about it next week!  

Love and miss you all.