Idaho Trip

I recently went on a trip to Idaho to meet my Nana’s older brother John, in Idaho Falls. My Nana is 80 and her brother is around 87. As long as I’ve been alive I’ve never met him or really heard about him, even though I’ve been to Idaho before. Since they recently reconnected, so we flew out to meet his whole family! It was a trip of fun and healing! We flew into Utah and from there drove all around Idaho. We went to hot springs, museums, gun ranges, ate great food, and did lots of sightseeing. For all the walking and activities we did my legs felt pretty good. I was afraid that not going to the gym would set me back, but turns out moving all day every day for 2 weeks makes a good gym. Here are all the fun things we did in Idaho if anyone’s ever interested in going.





The falls in Idaho Falls



Soda Spring Gyser


Soda Water at Hooper Spring

Soda Spring and Hooper Spring. The top picture is a man-made geyser. The bottom picture, Hopper Spring, produces natural soda water. Tons of people come to fill up water bottles or large plastic jugs with the natural soda water, then flavoring it with kool-aid or some other flavoring (My family used stevia or drank it plain). The water has important minerals like magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, and so much more to benefit your body.
After some soda water, we went to Heise Hot Springs and Lava Hot Springs, which were probably my favorite parts of the trip! They had so many different naturally temperature Hot Pools. The water had magnesium that relaxed my legs and loosened my body. It was just what I needed and made the walking we did so much easier. The top two pictures are from Heise Hot Springs and the bottom three are from Lava Hot Springs.

On a day when we didn't have too much going on, we went to Sun Valley in Ketchum Idaho. In the summer they turn a ski resort, and the ski lift into a beautiful place where you can take a fun ride on the ski lift up to a nice restaurant! My Mom and Nana didn’t want to take the trip in the ski lift, so I went with my brother and dad. It was such a fun way to get a view of the mountains.








A few pictures of when we went to the Birds of Prey museum, played dress up at the Steam Punk museum, and went to what felt like every Natural Grocers we passed. Natural Grocers was the coolest grocery store where we could eat almost anything our hearts desired (I found an avocado-based ice cream that I've been looking for in California). We took advantage of the scenery on a lazy afternoon having a picnic by a stream, making me wish I could do it every day.

 

We hiked up a mountain that I can't remember the name of but it had lava rock all over it, which was really cool. Lastly, we went to a gun range, saw more family and friends, making our way back to Utah to get on the plane back home.

I had so much fun in Idaho, and think that being away from my fast-paced California lifestyle was needed to heal and get stronger. I got to try new things, including getting a fruity drink at a Sonic, and meet new family. I can't wait to go back to Idaho to see them again, and go berry picking in my Great Uncle John's backyard.