Idaho Falls, ID

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Andi left to work at an office space in downtown Ketchum, Idaho bright and early this morning, while Tory, Aden, and I stayed back at our camper and Laura and Shaun in theirs. We weren't sure what our day in Ketchum would hold, but knew it’d be a good opportunity to catch up on school work, take showers, and clean up our campers a little bit.

A little after 8:00am, Laura text me to grab the kids and come outside. They’d spotted two moose grazing in a marshy bog outside their camper. Tory, Aden and I hurried to pull on our boots and coats and rush outside to see the moose for ourselves. We watched the big animals from our perch on top of the hill, but it was a chilly morning so Laura encouraged us to come inside their camper and watch the moose from their kitchen window. We did that for another 20 minutes or so. Eventually, the moose made their way behind a thicket of bushes and we could no longer see them.

While we were in their camper, Laura, Shaun and I contemplated what we should do for the day. We thought about going to the spa/rec center or going for a hike, but they both said they were content staying at our campsite and just hanging out until Andi returned this afternoon. We agreed to play the day by ear & the kids and I made our way back to our camper so that we could do school. It was nice to have more time for a longer, productive study session to catch up on a few of the “extras” we sometimes skip when we’re traveling.

Just before lunchtime, Laura and Shaun called us back over to their camper across the dirt turnout. The pair of moose were back! By now, the sun had warmed up the day and it was the perfect temperature to sit outside and watch them. Shaun pulled up a few lawn chairs for Laura and I while he and Aden perched themselves on the side of the hill. We watched the moose for over an hour. It was amazing! Definitely a highlight of our trip thus far.

We concluded that the two moose were a mama and her baby. We watched them play with one another, splashing and jumping in the water, and running around the riverbank. Eventually, they calmed down a bit and occupied themselves by eating grasses and plants in the water. It was the coolest thing to watch, made even better because we had the entire show to ourselves. There wasn’t another person around, and no other sounds — just us positioned on the top of a hill watching two moose in their natural habitat below us.

After school and the moose sightings, we didn’t really have time to do anything else before Andi returned from his meetings. We decided to just hang out at our campsite until he returned. Laura and I sat outside in the sunshine and talked while she caught up on their RV travel book. Tory and Aden laid in our RV for a bit and watched their iPads.

Around 3:00pm, Andi returned to the campsite. We spend a few minutes packing up our respective campers and then hit the road toward Jackson, Wyoming. We wouldn’t make it all the way there tonight, but we wanted to push to get as close as possible.

On the way, we stopped in Hailey, Idaho to re-fill our campers with water. Since all of us had taken showers today, we were in desperate need of water. In Hailey, we also decided to grab dinner since it’d be late when we arrived at our campsite tonight. Andi selected La Cabanita Mex which honestly had some of the best Mexican food and the best service we’ve had in a long time! I ordered a soft chicken taco with green rice which I’d never heard of before. It was white rice cooked with herbs and it was delicious.

After dinner, we hopped back on the road following Highway 26 west toward Idaho Falls. It’s a fairly rural part of Idaho and not much to see. We did drive by Craters of the Moon National Monument in Arco, Idaho and reflected on the time our family visited there in the fall of 2020. It’s an “out of this world” place to visit! — it literally looks feels like standing on the face of the moon thanks to lava flow which covered the area between 15,000-21,000 years ago.

It was dark by the time we arrived in Idaho Falls. Andi found us a free, dispersed camping spot north of the city to park for the night. It’s always stressful coming into a place in the dark because it’s harder to see obstacles and dangers surrounding, but we did alright finding a pull-through campsite that was large enough to accommodate our two rigs.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll continue driving toward Jackson, Wyoming.