Shoshone Falls and Scenic America

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July 24

We needed to get back to Chicago no later than the 28th so we planned a route along major highways instead of the more scenic byways that we prefer. The route would be Boise to Cheyenne to Lincoln to Des Moines to Chicago. However, we still managed to see some spectacular scenery. The main stop would be to Shoshone Falls in Idaho.

At about 100 miles before Boise, we hit stopped traffic on Rt. 84; a semi had flipped over about a mile ahead of us. We were stuck here for almost two hours. People were milling around out of their cars talking with each other on the highway. Some people walked their dogs along the side of the road. We were grateful for two things: 1) there was an open porta-potty on the side of the road; and 2) we had a can of Spaghetti-O’s with meatballs that we opened up and ate out of the can for dinner!

This delay killed our plans for enjoying a night of food and entertainment in downtown Boise on a Saturday night. We discovered Boise’s active nightlife on our 2016 road trip, but we didn’t get into Boise this time until after 10:00 p.m. Most bars closed at 10:00 or 11:00 so we just checked into our amazingly horrible Americas Value Motel room on the edge of town. This was one of the dreariest and just plain crummy motels we ever stayed in. The Knights Inn in Dodge City, Kansas is happy to no longer herald the prize as worst motel we ever stayed in.

July 25

Shoshone Falls

We fled our horrific motel almost as soon as we woke and headed to the Pearl section of downtown Boise for great pastry and coffee at The District Coffee House. Then we walked around the funky and swanky section of town…something we had planned on doing the night prior.

After about an hour downtown we got in the car and headed to Twin Falls, Idaho about 2 hours away to see Shoshone Falls…the “Niagara Falls of the West”.

As expected on a beautiful summer Sunday, Shoshone Falls Park was crowded. We got past the pay station ($5 entry) easily but found virtually no available parking. So, we creatively parked where others had, and walked to the observation area. The Falls did not disappoint. It was definitely worth the stop.

Scenic America and Rock Springs

We got a snack at the Shoshone Falls concession stand, and after about 30 minutes headed toward Rock Springs, Wyoming, our second stopover on the way home.  We hit some gorgeous scenery between Twin Falls, Idaho and Rock Springs.

Rock Springs is probably 5x bigger than anybody who has never heard of it thinks it is. This is a busy destination town. We made up for our terrible motel stay in Boise with a wonderful stay in the very nice Homewood Suites by Hilton in Rock Springs. Aahhh! Civility again!

From here we just bee-lined it back to Chicago after a morning drive through the well-preserved and interesting historic district of Rock Springs.

Here, we see the sun setting on our 2021 Road Trip!