Balanced Rock and Unbalanced Human

Balanced Rock. It looks pretty small from the parking lot, but that’s until you start hiking towards it.

Taking the Waters

Upon arriving at what was pitched as a resort in their marketing materials, we found we had the opportunity to swim in the “rejuvenating” hot springs. We could choose between the public pool ($9 each) or a private room for an additional $2. One look at the private room (scary, little prison cells) convinced us to save the surcharge. The hot springs (a big cement pool) has an exceedingly high woo factor. Most everyone in the public area was under 15 or over 65. Just as we were wondering which one of has had “Go ahead, charge us $9” stamped to our forehead, we were saved by a great chat with a fascinating woman. Lynn, who had 3 kids and was widowed by 25, married a man with 5 kids, then had two together. She now has 40 grandchildren and 15 great grands. They lived for 15 years, till he died, leasing 35,000 acres from the Bureau of Land Management. Their home was 12 miles off the nearest road (those 12 miles took 45 minutes to negotiate), but they had tons of visitors. She once went 17 days without preparing a meal for less than 30 people. Her husband testified before Congress about the amount of space needed to raise cattle. One Congressman, from New Jersey, didn’t believe him (in Jersey they had 15 cows per acre), so he invited him out and the Congressman took him up on the offer! They ran the poor man and his three companions into the ground – 13 hours in the saddle in one day. The Congressman later apologized in front of Congress for calling Lynn’s husband a liar. Learned a neat thing about cattle: a head of cattle is one mother cow, her offspring, and the bull it takes to service her. So their 400-head ranch could have easily had as many as 800 animals at one time. Interestingly, Lynn was a distant relative of one of the original six founders of Hartford, Merriam, of Merriam Webster Dictionary fame.

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.

You’d Think the Official State Map of Oregon Would Tell Us

1) When you hit Malheur County (southeasternmost county in OR), you’re in Mountain time. Surprise! Nothing like trying to set your watch ahead an hour while barreling down a two-lane road at 60 MPH.

2) Oregon is a full-serve only state. The fourth time we stopped for gas (and the fourth time Scott was intercepted on his way to the pump) Amy the attendant told us it was a law. Should we tip?

Bully Creek Campground Tonight?

Sold!

Crater Lake to the Idaho Border (Almost)

Heading east, mostly, in this part of Oregon is different. There just aren’t a lot of roads. You can go 15 miles without running into an intersection. Not a single house to be seen. We’ve driven through a piney scrub, a marsh with wildlife viewing, and a couple of ranches. Almost no cars or intersections.

We stopped for gas at the thriving metropolis of Silver Lake. They have a restaurant and a one-room grocery store selling toys, clothes, pre-packaged deli meat and video rentals (among other things). And . . . a library! It wasn’t Monday, though, so the library was closed. We contributed $38 to the local economy and kept on moving.

We took a county road from there to Christmas Valley (Cell service! Two bars!) and then another 38 miles til a left turn put us on US Route 395 N. We took that 28 miles to Riley (not a town along the way), hung a right on Route 20 and stopped for a spell in Burns to provision up. On the way out of town, we swung by the visitor center and got a campsite and restaurant recommendation close to the Idaho border.

Bully Creek Campground is a grassy municipal park with some trees, located on the edge of a reservoir. Full electric and showers. $10 a night. Really warm tonight; the couple at R Big Burger American and Mexican Cuisine who shared their hot sauce with us said it might get as low as 55. We’re excited that we can sleep without the fly and maybe even open up all the windows on our tent and see some stars.

The reservoir in this area makes the land incredibly different from that on the way here. En route, there was a lot of sagebrush and Badlands-esque structures (often made of pumice). Very dry and little vegetation. Around here, though, the irrigation canals connecting the ranches allow for corn and even soybeans to be grown. Some places you look across the road from a farm and see sagebrush and scrub. People even water their lawns.

Why We Hate Xanterra

Q: What do you call a competent, conscientious and friendly Xanterra employee?

A: A bad hire.

Q: What do you call a clear, concise, easy to follow, customer-focused Xanterra policy?

A: A rough draft.