Words Can't Describe...IDAHO (Idaho)

Member Name: Rocawear

Product:	Idaho
Date:	11/02/02 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Awesome, Scenery, Activities

Disadvantages: COLD, COLD, WINTERS

My first jaunt to the Pacific Northwest was the summer of 2001. 2 sun soaked weeks in the most beutiful area i have ever been to.
After an utterly soul destroying 24hr trip from Manchester airport to the quiet town of Idaho Falls, i wasn't interested in the fact that the mountains were huge and the scenerly amazing, i needed a double whiskey and water and a week in bed. The next morning however was a different story. Jet lag is unbelievable when flying this far, 7 hours time difference meant that i wasn't staying in bed until god knows what hour of the afternoon, i was awake at 6:30am. Already the temperature in the apartment was in the high 70's (30+) and it was still the middle of the night.
Upon opening the front door of the apartment to see how hot it really was, i was pleasantly surprised by the lack of humidity, having been to Washington DC at the same period the year before, where the humidity is unbearable. The air is crisp and dry, yet the heat is extraordinary!!!
There are many things to do in Idaho Falls, 'a small town' only 50,000 people!!!! coming from a medium town with only 10,000 people i couldn't work it out!!! The town has a the Grand Teton Mall, 2 good gyms, a swimming pool, outdoor and indoor soccer facilities, 2 large cinemas and 2 universities.
But Idaho doesn't stop there. Just 20 minutes down the road is a place called Hiise (pronounced Hi-see), which has a camp site, golf course, outdoor swimming facilities, a hot pool and the best Cutt-Throat Trout fishing in the country, let alone the state, theres a sign which is particularly amusing to a british fisherman, no fish can be taken from the river unless it is over 16 inches long?!? i've never seen a trout more than eight inches long, it must look like a friggin whale!!!!
In the oppsite directio to Hiise is firstly Blackfoot Indian Reservation where only native americans can live, where they pay no taxes, period. After this there is a
city called Pocatello, the home of Idaho State University which has outreach locations all over the state. Further still is a small town named Lava Hot Springs, so called because it has natural springs, and believe me they are definately hot!!! The town also has an olympic swimming complex with 2 large tube slides and a choice of three diving platforms, one is abou 10ft high, one is about 25/30 ft high and the last one is friggin massive, 60/70ft high, and a bit of advice for anyone who goes there, when you do the top one, if your crazy like me, make sure that when you hit the water you hold your shorts DOWN, cos DAMN hitting the water at that speed gives you the most almighty wedgy the world has ever seen!!!! also at Lava is the river tubing experience, a must for any Indiana Jones wannabe!! You pay 3 dollars for a tube and you walk to the top of the town and down a dirt track towards a placid looking river, for the more pyschotic people you can than walk further upstream and test you testiculr fortitude down a waterfall, a word of warning though, the waterfall snaps the tube from underneath you and then pulls you back against the base, get out quickly!!!!, you then set off on the intended part of the river, going at a moderate pace over some small rapids, around the first bend however is another story, you are flipped, tossed and generally beaten to a pulp by the river for about 50 yards and then you virtually stop under a bridge, after this you plunge almost vertically another few feet into a big rapid which throws you down the river into even rougher terriory. Once you get through the 'gauntlet' as locals like to call it you slowly come to a stop at the exit point, were you can lie on the grass and survey your wounds!!! i kid you not.
The main attraction in Idaho has to be Yellowstone National Park, the unofficial home of Yogi and BooBoo!!! The park is absolutley awesome, its also unreal you will be driving down the road as you do patiently followin
g the car in front and all of a sudden its gone, the car in front has slammed on the brakes and swerved to the side of the road, you quickly pull over in the off chance that you can provide assistance, only to see the occupants of said vehicle taking off into the woodlands, intrigued you follow them, and you are met with the most dominant looking male elk ever, standing tall, staring you down as if to say, get out of my wood or i'll shove my antlers were the sun don't shine, it doesn't take long to understand him and slowly you back away, after the mandatory entire use of a camera film. Later on that same day when returning to the camp site, i took a right hand turn, a blind corner, and had to slam my brakes on instantly, walking infront of the car is a Buffalo, nice as you like, slowly pausing to turn his humongous head and shoulders to look at the car, unfased by my presence he carries on up the middle of the road, diverting traffic onto the grassy banks around him. Awesome. At night freezing your balls of in you la'al tent the howls of wolves are all around you, it gets to the point were youre actually convinced their in the tent with you!!
On the way back from the park you get an awesome view of the Grand Teton Mountain Range, so called because the first settlers said they looked like tits!! no crap thats the honest to god reason.

Winter is a different matter altogether, forget the 100 degree temperature and come back down the scale to about -10 the average temperature!!! gone are the desert wastes and instead there is mile upon mile of blinding snow. A whole new season and plently of activities.
Remember Hiise? well thats now got a ski resort to add to its repertoire. Kelly Canyon Ski Resort. Having never been skiing ever this was a challenge. (you can read my opinion on that elsewhere) i will simply say that after only 8 attempts at skiing i can now do all but one of the runs, including all the balck diamond (most difficul
t) runs. You can also snow board and like the river tubing in summer they have a huge course for snow tubing, which is also more dangerous than the river style. You can go snowmobiling and all manner of winter sports. And if your here in winter you have to, the winter snow starts in November and doesn't melt until March/April time.

Idaho really is an awesome state, i look forward to seeing even more of it in the future now i am a resident.

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