Pocatello Idaho and Idaho State University…

Upon leaving Ogden, Utah our plan was to spend a night boondocking at a casino near Pocatello , Idaho.  As we pulled into Fort Hall Casino we discovered  it has a nice RV Park behind it. With temperatures back on the rise we decided it best to stay at their RV park ($27 per night for full hookups).

After hooking up and eating lunch we then decided to go check out the town of Pocatello about 15 minutes away. We drove around the downtown area and found Idaho State University where we spent an hour or so checking out the campus. Idaho State is a nice campus and like many in this area it has a strong Mormon influence. We visited the athletic facilities and even enjoyed looking at the Iconic Columns on top of Red Hill ISU Campus. There doesn’t seem to be any significance to them other than a local business owner was having his funeral home torn down and there were four beautiful cast iron Greek columns and one of them was broken at the top. Somehow they ended up on top of Red Hill.

After enjoying our campus stroll we wanted to check out Portneuf Brewing Company thinking maybe we would catch some of the USA vs. Belgium World Cup soccer game.  Although there was no TV, we stayed because we liked the vibe at this little brewery owned by a lady who moved to the area from Oregon.  Most nights the brewery hosts live music from local musicians but we decided to head back to the RV for a nice dinner.  Afterward we walked over to check out the Fort Hall Casino…

When registering for a player card we were informed that if we played in the casino enough to register 25 points on the players card we would get $25 free play. After determining we needed to play $50 through a machine (you earn 1 point per 2 dollars played) I figured we would give it a try if they had any video poker. I play this game pretty well and even with bad machines I estimated it would take less than $18 to earn 25 points from a machine. A little over $14 later we had earned our $25 in free play. So we spent the rest of the evening playing 10 cents per hand video poker on the free play money. Sharon hit her first ever straight flush and after we were done we won our $14 back and an extra $6.95…Score (thanks to Sharon’s good luck)!!!

The next morning we drove north on Interstate 15 until we hit state highway 20 and drove NE to Rexford, Idaho where we have a reservation for the week of July 4th. Another short day of only 60 miles to Thompson RV Park which isn’t all that beautiful but will work for us to hide out while the tourists enjoy the 4th of July holiday…

Ogden Utah and Downey Idaho…

We left Utah Lakes State Park in Provo, Utah and moved north up Interstate 15. We traveled only about 80 miles today since I hate driving on congested freeways and that describes perfectly this stretch of Interstate15. We pulled into another Passport America Park in Ogden, Utah called  Wasatch View Estates RV Park. This park is what we would rate as a low quality site .  It appears as if it was a mobile home park that is slowly being converted into an RV/Park Model over 55 community. We weren’t staying long so it didn’t really matter especially since at least the mountain view outside our front window was appealing.

With rainy weather in the area we didn’t do too much our first day in Ogden but that evening we had a visitor from our past life in College Station, Texas. Our friend Nancy and her son Jason came by for dinner and a visit. We knew Nancy and her husband Steve 25 years ago in Texas. She now lives in Denver and commutes to Salt Lake City  each week for her job. It was really fun to see her and catch up on all the news since we last saw one another.

        

The next day in Ogden we checked out the downtown area especially the trendy 25th Street district. We enjoyed this neat little area with lots of shops, restaurants and bars. From there we went for a little 50 mile loop drive through the mountains. We drove through Ogden Canyon and took a scenic drive around Pineview Reservoir as well as the little town of Huntsville. We stopped at several of the roadside turnouts to enjoy the views of the lake against the mountains.

On the way back through Ogden Canyon we took a  two mile hike up into the canyon on Indian Trail. It was a fairly steep hike on the way up and an enjoyable walk through the woods on the way back. Before returning to the RV park we stopped in to have an early dinner and a cold beverage at Roosters Restaurant and Brewery. The beers were only average to good but the dinner was great and we enjoyed our last evening on the town.

The next morning we drove further north into Idaho, a new state for us both. We pulled into Downata Hot Springs RV Park. This is another Passport America park outside of Downey Idaho and features a water park. Since it was mid week we figured there wouldn’t be too many kids around and there wasn’t . In fact since there weren't many campers at all, we had wonderful unobstructed panoramic views of horses grazing in the meadows with mountains in the backdrop....very relaxing.

We did take a little drive around the area as there isn’t much to do around here and found several small lakes on some of the back roads  We stumbled upon a dirt road to Twin Lakes where we saw several campers had already staked out their sites for July 4th. The lakes are a popular stop for anglers and boaters as well as campers so we stayed awhile  admire the scenery.

One somber stop was at the scene of the “The Massacre at Bear River” where after unrest between settlers and the Shoshone Indians the Army came in and staged a surprise attack on the Shoshone Indian winter encampment along the Bear River. Warriors, women and children were caught completely by surprise and apparently the goal was to leave no survivors.

Historical plaques told of the massacre and this snippet from Wikipedia tells of the military’s brutality upon the Shoshoni…

“As the Shoshone used tomahawks and bows and arrows for defense, the soldiers appeared to lose control. After killing most of the men and many of the children, they raped and assaulted the women.“

There are more gruesome details which I won’t include as you may visit my link to Wikipedia and read more if you are interested in reading more of the encounter.

We have a reservation in Rexburg, Idaho for the week of July 4th. so we'll drive about 50 miles tomorrow and will probably boondock at a casino near Pocatello before heading on into Rexburg. We also tried to make some reservations for a month long stay near Glacier National Park and were unsuccessful so we have a single week booked for now and will try to add some more weeks as soon as we can find them. It will definitely cost us more this way but that is the price of our desired flexibility sometimes…