Dietz Summer Road Trip

We departed Yellowstone again through the south entrance, which took us through the Grand Tetons before coming to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for our first stop of the day. This was our first time visiting Jackson Hole and albeit an expense place, it’s a really cool resort/shopping town. We ate lunch at the Snake River Brewing Company aptly named for the Snake River we followed to get to Jackson Hole.

After lunch we walked around Jackson Hole, stopping in various shops and admiring the giant antler arches that marked the corners of the little town square. Before we headed out we popped in the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar that has been featured on various food/travel programs. It definitely is a unique place, decorated with knotty wood and saddles instead of bar stools.

Our next stop was Idaho. This was a state that we just drove through (the top pan handle part) two years ago but we never stopped or visited. Turns out Idaho is absolutely beautiful! The drive from Wyoming into Idaho takes you up through the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.

 

We stopped for the evening in Idaho Falls, ID. It was A Sunday evening so almost everything was closed. Trip advisor led us to Jaker’s Restaurant. We were determined to try some Idaho potatoes, in Idaho! John got a Kobe sirloin with a baked potato (rubbed in bacon fat and salt before baked) and Danielle got crab cakes with garlic mashed potatoes! Both were delicious and the rolls or “scones” as they told us they are called in Idaho, were hot, flash fried, and melted in your mouth with the honey butter they make.

The next morning we woke up with Craters of the Moon being our primary destination. As I mentioned before, Idaho (or at least the parts we were in) was absolutely beautiful. Their famed potatoes had us thinking the whole place would look like… well, brown like a potato. While there are plenty of potatoes fields, that isn’t the only thing!

 

An unexpected detour en route to Craters of the Moon National Monument, was the World’s First Nuclear Power Plant. Experimental Breeder Reaction- 1 (EBR1) was the world’s first to be powered by atomic energy. The local town, Arco, was also the first town to be powered by atomic energy. The power plant is now something you can tour for free. John absolutely loved it and insisted on getting a picture standing on top of the reactor.

 

Craters of the Moon was only a few more miles down the road and was one of the most unique places we have visited. It is a volcano, and has lava beds and splatter cones you can check out. While it was hot and very dry, the one splatter cone was so shaded it still had snow on this inside of it! They also said that the Apollo astronauts came here to train on the terrain before visiting the moon.

We originally thought maybe we would stay here at the park but it was still early enough and we wanted to take a day to visit northern Utah, so we headed out of Idaho. One last stop was a brief visit to the Idaho Potato Museum. It was good to see that they embraced their potato culture and had a giant spud outside of the museum. While the museum looked small and since we still had some driving to do, we setting for just a quick visit to the gift shop and the free portion of the museum. If you ever wanted anything with potatoes on it, this place is for you!!

 

Idaho was really cool and we can now say we at least visited it. I would love to go back sometime and visit the Coer d’Alene portion that is apparently also very beautiful! Idaho also has a lot more National Forests that we did not get to see this trip. Up next is Utah!