Our night sky photography session last night meant we had a later night than usual, but that didn’t stop Neil from jumping out of bed at 6.30 this morning. He had a sunrise on the mountains to capture! I decided that if you can’t beat ‘em you should join them, so I crawled out of bed and grabbed my camera…. And a cup of coffee!
We weren’t the only ones out in the cold light of dawn, these mountains just call to everyone. The early start gave us a little extra time to catch up on Internet things, although in Neil’s case that meant catching up on some work issues that were not really what he should have had to think about on his holiday, unfortunately.
We grabbed a breakfast croissant and coffee from the Starbucks in the lobby and sat there admiring the view from their incredible windows before finally checking out and heading onwards. However, I couldn’t resist a little final look at the mountains from the rear vision mirror!
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| Breakfast view in the lobby. |
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| Goodbye to the Tetons…I thought.. |
We drove through Jackson which is a very plushy town catering to the wealthy who come here to ski in the winter and to enjoy the national park and the fishing and boating in the summer. I’d priced hotels here online when planning the trip and had backed away from the computer screen very rapidly!
We followed the Snake River along a pretty forested gorge and where it is controlled by the Palisades dam. The water level of the dam is waaaaay down here too, that seems to be a common theme of our experience this trip.
The next section of the drive was along the Teton Scenic Byway which travels through vast farming country, about a 50/50 mix of cattle feed and seed potatoes. Yes, we were in Idaho now and I’d finally found some potatoes! We also found the Spud Drive In at Driggs Idaho , screening every weekend for your pleasure…
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| The SPUD – Drive In |
the other pleasure was to see the Teton mountain range again, from the opposite side.
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| The Teton range again, this time viewed from the west. |
One thing we’ve learned about traveling here is to expect the unexpected, one minute we were in wide farmlands , Neil turned a corner and suddenly we were in a forest valley following the flow of a river. Shortly afterwards we joined the Mesa Falls Scenic Falls which took us to….you guessed it….Mesa Falls. After the crowds of Yellowstone and the Tetons it was lovely to have this pretty area almost to ourselves. The falls plunge down through a narrow canyon in two sections. At the upper falls, walkways took us right to the brink and the cool breeze blowing up was lovely today, it’s turned quite warm again.
The visitor center here occupies the historic Big Falls Inn, built around 1915 by the Snake River Electric Light and Power Company. With its spectacular setting, the Inn was a popular spot for social gatherings in its past lives. It had its day as a hotel, a cafe, and a dance hall.. It was getting a fresh coat of paint and looked a little strange sitting all by itself in the middle of the forest. But very quaint with its baskets of flowers. Hanging baskets of flowers have been another recurring theme for the Rockies towns and hotels. I guess with their short summers they like to make the most of the flowers while they last.
We were heading south on Highway 20 , only an hour from Idaho Falls when Neil saw a sign pointing to St Anthony Sand Dunes. I quickly googled and we learned the dunes are huge, 10,000 acres of dunes rising to 400 feet in places.
We took a quick detour to check them out, they’re obviously on the move because they’re gradually swamping power poles and signs.
Finally we arrived in Idaho Falls and found our hotel, right on the Snake River near the falls for which the town is named. The natural falls have been expanded and raised to provide a hydro electricity system for the town. The other major sight along the river is the huge Mormon temple. We enjoyed a stroll along the riverbank and were really impressed by the collection of artwork-come-park-seating that were scattered along the park Idaho Falls is a really interesting and pretty town right in the middle of the potato state!
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| The Mormon Temple at Idaho falls |
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| Beautiful park bench in the riverside park |