5 Reasons to Visit Idaho

I am kicking off the year by sharing one of my favorite spots of 2018! After spending 7 months on the road, and traipsing through over 20 different states, you might be surprised to find that my favorite one was Idaho... yes, Idaho! I was just as shocked! We planned to drive through, spending one night in Idaho on the way out west and again on the way back east. Plans changed quickly and here's why... Though there are more, here are 5 reasons to visit Idaho.

5 Reasons to Visit Idaho

1.) Idaho has Lush, Beautiful Waterfalls 

We spent the majority of our time out west in the winter, so needless to say, there was a lot of brown. Literally we crossed the border into southern Idaho and I screamed at Babe, "stop! Pull over!! Look, look... that scenic turn-off; get over, take it!! STOP!!" We scrambled out of the truck in Twin Falls, Idaho and into paradise! Nothing but lush, green views with waterfalls literally cascading from every direction. They weren't huge, wide powerful things, but instead these thin beautiful lines of water falling to the earth up and down the expanse of rock wall leading down to the river. Then, amidst all this beauty I see someone jump right off the huge bridge we were parked next to... base jumping!! I had always wanted to see someone BASE jump and the colorful suit set against the gorgeous backdrop made it the perfect entrance into my new favorite state!

2.) Shoshone Falls 

Twin Falls, Idaho should basically be called "million falls Idaho"! It has thin, beautiful falls and it is also home to Shoshone Falls, sometimes called the "Niagara of the West". Now, I have never seen Niagara Falls, but I kept saying "this is what I always imagined Niagara would look like". Shoshone Falls was beautiful, but also had such immense power that we could feel the spray of water even from very far away. There is a $3.00 car fee if you want to drive down to the base or you can park up at the top and hike in. Shoshone Falls is located on the Snake River and is definitely worth a visit! 

3.) Shoshone Indian Ice Cave 

Such a cool place- literally!! You wouldn't expect to find ice in the middle of the desert, especially at the end of May, but there it was. In the middle of nowhere, on a nondescript roadside reservation, site the Shoshone Indian Ice Cave. Set in the ground, in a lava tube the cool air gets trapped creating ice from water inside the cave. We were there towards the end of the season, but were told that sometimes the ice gets so high it covers the boardwalks. It's $10 per adult to visit Shoshone Ice Caves and well worth the $$! 

4.) Best Boondocking in the US 

Idaho also won our vote for best boondocking spot in the US; at least in our opinion! Babe found this beautiful spot on Freecampsites.com and after driving down a gravel road, with no cell service and praying the gps coordinates worked, we entered into this heavenly space! Surrounded by gorgeous, green mountains on all sides I literally felt like I was in The Sound of Music and couldn't stop singing "The hills are alive..." We had the entire place to ourselves and soaked in as much of the beauty as we could in one night! If we could have stayed the entire 14 days that is allowed I would have, but there is no cell service and we had to pack it up after one night so that we could work. 

5.) Route of the Hiawatha Scenic Bike Trail 

While most of our time in Idaho was spent in southern Idaho, we also passed through Northern Idaho on our way to Glacier NP. Friends recommended we do the Route of the Hiawatha and we are so glad we did! It was one of our favorite experiences on the road! The Route of the Hiawatha is a 15 mile downhill bike trail covering an old train trestle. You pass through old tunnels (one of which is over a mile long) and over train trestles that seem sky high! While most people do this on their mountain bikes, we braved it on our beach cruisers. It's all downhill, so we didn't have to pedal like crazy and our bikes withstood most of the rocky bumps; sure, we popped our chains once or twice, but our sweet little Huffy cruisers survived!! 

The cost to do the trail is about $25 per person ($12 for the trail pass, $10 for the shuttle; I also rented a helmet for $7.00). You do need a flashlight attached to your bike or helmet  to do the trail, which can be rented as well. We chose to duct tape our own small, handheld flashlights to our bikes. While they worked, I would recommend something a little stronger. The mile long tunnel gets completely dark and the light from our little flashlights didn't allow us to see very far, making us feel really disoriented (it also gets really cold in the tunnels- even in summer- so be sure to bring a light jacket). On our second pass through the longest tunnel we turned on our iPhone flashlights as well and that definitely helped a lot! 

We really loved Idaho! Babe wasn't as on-board about Idaho as I was, until we did the Route of the Hiawatha; he kept saying I only loved it because we hadn't seen green in so long, but once we rode the Hiawatha he was 100% sold. If you have never thought about visiting Idaho I would highly recommend changing your mind! 

Check out more REASONS TO VISIT IDAHO and all its beauty in our vlogs

Have you ever been? 

Any place you didn't think much about completely take you by surprise? 

Where have you been lately?! 

Link up for this month's Travel Tuesday Link Up! 

Let's explore together!! 

~On the 2nd Tuesday of every month I will be sharing a new travel post and would love to see where you have been exploring!

~Any linked posts will be pinned under Travel Tuesday on my Pinterest account. 

~Please leave a little love on the post directly before yours and then anywhere else you like! That way we can all grow this community together :) 

~Not many other rules, as I am not a huge fan of those sorts of things! Just add any travel related link and I encourage you to peek around and see where everyone else has been. 

~Feel free to grab the image from the sidebar and add it to your post so others know where to link up.

~I will also be featuring my favorite post from the month before and sharing across social media. This month I'm loving A Book Lover's Adventures guest post about great things to do in Melbourne, FL. I have lived in Central Florida my whole, but never explored much of Melbourne. Definitely need to change that!! 

An InLinkz Link-up