Day 35 – Twin Falls, ID

We all got off to kind of a late start this morning, but that’s OK, we’re not in any rush to go anywhere or do anything.  Don and I had a nice morning walk, similar to yesterday, and the park was almost empty at that point.  We eventually commenced our excursion around noon, intent on doing the Thousand Springs Scenic Byway tour.  This involved getting across Twin Falls to the westbound leg of Highway 30, and heading out through the corn fields, cow pastures, and potato patches that are the most common features of Idaho agriculture.  The fields really are beautiful, and it’s really good to see that farming and ranching are doing well here. 

About a half hour out of Twin Falls, we saw our first large springs, flowing out of the river bank into the Snake River, forming waterfalls down the slope.  There were quite a few of them, but they were on the far side of the river, and we couldn’t get a good photo of them.  Shortly after this sighting, Don turned abruptly onto a road that a sign indicated led to some fossil beds; he does have an interest in fossils, as he is close to becoming one himself!  Ha, Ha!  After climbing the hilly terrain that the road passed through, we encountered another sign, which told us that no fossils could be observed at the road’s destination, all the fossils were in a museum in Hagerman.  A bit miffed, we turned around at a trailhead that advertised itself as offering close inspection of the route of the Oregon Trail through this territory.  It was bewildering to all of us why the pioneers would choose to climb these hills rather than chug along the relatively flat riverbank on the north side of the Snake. 

Oregon Trail? 

Back on Highway 30, we were having trouble finding any of the Thousand Springs, but we did find a road that led to a fish hatchery.  We wound up the road for a couple of miles, to find ourselves amid a giant fish nursery devoted to birthing and raising steelhead trout.  Don trotted around looking at the facilities, while Geri and I relaxed in the shade of a tree.  He determined that this facility dumped 1. 5 million young steelhead into the river every year, to replace the fish that were no longer able to spawn properly due to the dams that the evil paleface had placed in the rivers that had previously been the property of the fish.  He also found a large spring that provided the water for the hatchery, and a pen in a creek containing some huge sturgeon fish.  He was pleased with the visit and his findings, though Geri and I had no idea why. 

Home to many thousands of Steelhead

The only spring we got a photo of

We ventured further west into the town of Hagerman, where Geri made it known that she would expire if she didn’t get some kind of an iced coffee drink.  We stopped at a produce market, where the proprietor was a former resident of Chino who used to race motorcycles in Ventura, who informed us of a Mexican restaurant that he thought could provide the life restoring elixir.  So, we found ourselves knocking on the door of El Toro, as the business was closed.  A young lady finally came to the door, and Geri persuaded her to gin up two iced espressos with whipped cream by waving a credit card at her.  Don and I got a good laugh out of that. 

We continued west, Don missing a turnoff that he had planned to take, and chugged up a steep grade out of the valley.  We suddenly found ourselves on Highway 84, headed back to Twin Falls!  Fortunately, he was able to get back on course and got us off 84 in time to visit our next attraction, the Malad River Gorge.  I wasn’t allowed to go near it, for fear of my falling in, but they got some nice photos.  This little river has cut down through the basalt rock that it runs through for thousands of years, and has formed it’s own little Grand Canyon.

Malad River Gorge

We headed back toward Twin Falls through unending miles of agriculture and ranches, allowing Geri to properly identify the large mounds of material piled next to the feeding areas of the cattle as cow poop.  We couldn’t factually speculate on where this material eventually wound up, but we all thought it highly likely that it was used as a fertilizer for crops which would be sold as Organic.  We finally made it back to Twin Falls, stopping there for a little grocery shopping.  Don was kind enough to get me out of the hot truck while Geri shopped, and keep me in the shade next to the door of the market, where many people stopped to admire me and engage me in conversation.  I always enjoy that.

When we got back to the Park, a van with a trailer was pulling into the site next to us, and we found out that they were travelling with three Goldies!  We met them when Geri took me out for our evening walk, and one of them was a dead ringer for my old partner, Buddy!  Same face, same color, same tail, same ebullient personality.  Geri and I were amazed at the resemblance.  Another of the dogs was a lady who was afraid of other dogs, unfortunately, but the third one was very friendly and outgoing.  While we were walking, we encountered two more Goldies, making a total of six in the Park tonight; Goldies Rule! 

Dinner tonight was Do Your Own Thing; I got Don’s plate from the leftover meatball soup, which I always enjoy, and then we worked on the Blog.  We’ll be staying in Twin Falls another day; the owner of the Park asked if we were going to spend the winter with them!  Fat chance!