Foiled by the Idaho Visitor Centers

Our grand plan to map out our journey through Idaho was foiled when nobody was staffing the visitor center on Route 84. On the map of Boise was listed another visitor center so we tried there. Slightly more success, they pointed us to the library and had some vague suggestions about where we might see interesting sights. Amy attempted yet another visitor center in the heart of downtown and again came up empty.

At least we got to check out downtown Boise, a really cool place with a great library!

We made a plan to drive to Route 78 east through what the folks from the Boise visitor center said would be farm country, re-connect with 84 for a few miles and then take the Thousand Springs Scenic Byway through the towns of Buhl and Twin Falls and hop up Highway 93 to Shoshone Falls. It took a while to find the connecting road to get to Route 78 (nobody at the Fred Meyer in Nampa seemed to know the route numbers) and when we finally got there, it was mostly scrub and sagebrush rather than the lush fields we’d been hoping for.

It was getting late (after 6) when we got to the visitor center in Buhl but the sign on the door said “Open” even though the door was locked. We saw someone inside and knocked until we got her attention: we needed help finding a place to sleep. She turned out to be exactly what we’d hoped for when we first hit Idaho: friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. She called the “Miracle Hot Springs” RV park and campground to confirm they had a tent site for the night, and gave us directions to the Balanced Rock and Shoshone Falls, the “must do” area sights.