Road Trip to Idaho and Yellowstone (Oct 1-8, 2021)

We decided to take another road trip this year, this time that would take us through Utah, into Idaho, then to Yellowstone, and back to Idaho, before heading home through Nevada. The image shows the "figure-8" route we planned to follow.

Day 1 (Oct 1)

The plan was to leave Phoenix and get to Springvillefor the night. We thought we were taking the faster route through Utah by getting off the interstate, but instead ran into a rancher driving their sheep across the road.

We eventually arrived in Springville and had dinner and spent the night. The next morning, we started our drive towards West Yellowstone MT, with a few planned stops.

Day 2 (Oct 2)

We drove through Utah then headed to Pocatello ID, taking a nice scenic road through the mountains to reach Lava Hot Springs. 

We spent about an hour in the springs, then headed to Blackfoot ID to see the Museum of Clean 

And then we stopped at the Idaho Potato Museum. 

The potato ice cream was delicious (we tried huckleberry).

After driving several more hours, we stopped to visit Upper and Lower Mesa Falls near Aston ID.

From there, we drove to West Yellowstone MT for the night.

Road Trip - Day 6 - Wyoming and Idaho

Day 6  (Oct 6)

We spent most of the day driving from Jackson WY to Hagerman ID, making several stops along the way.

Because I like weird attractions, we headed to Arco, ID to see the submarine in the park.

From there, we headed to Craters of the Moon

After we checked into our motel in Hagerman, we drove to Miracle Hot Springs and soaked in a private hot tub.

Waterfalls along the way to Miracle Hot Springs

Road Trip - Days 7-8 - Idaho and Nevada

Days 7-8  (Oct 7-8)

We spent most of the day exploring the area around Twin Falls, ID

We started with a visit to Shoshone Falls. Because of the time of year and lack of rain, the falls didn't have a lot of  water.

From there we headed to Twin Falls where we saw the Perrine Memorial Bridge,

Saw Evel Knievel memorabilia near the Evel Knievel jump site (across the Snake River)

Picture taken from bridge - left bank is where he landed and right bank is where he jumped from.

We also stopped to explore the Twin Falls

And happened to find this park that was FULL of cats!

We returned to Hagerman and visited Thousand Springs State Park and the downtown area.

Before dinner, we headed back to the hot springs. And then eventually returned to the motel for our final night in ID.

The next morning, we started our drive home. We stopped at the Hagerman Fossil Beds to see the remnants of the Oregon Trail. 

Luckily we didn't die of dysentery 

As we entered Nevada, we had a bit of rain and even saw some snow falling in the distance.

Our initial plan was to stop outside of Las Vegas or in Laughlin NV for the night, but we had fewer stops along the way (because of the weather) and decided to drive all the way home.