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Idaho

We did not take any pictures of Idaho, but we should have. It is beautiful.

We stayed there the night we visited Grand Teton National Park. Jackson Hole, Wyoming is right outside of the park but very expensive so we went to a Holiday Inn Express in Idaho Falls, two hours away, and I am so glad we did.

On the way there, we stopped at the Swan Valley General Store for gas and a bathroom break. Noel, with his super instinct for finding great places along our way, suggested we go across the street to the Snake River Roadhouse for dinner. It was fabulous! We ate on the screened porch. Noel had a bison burger and fries; I had a regular burger and fries.

The most fabulous thing was the absolute kindness of the people at both the store and the restaurant (and in the hotel). It wasn't just the external politeness of the south. This was the genuine kindness of people who look at other humans, make eye contact, and then connect with them.

Going into the store, a woman not much younger than me held the door for me then, looking at my knee brace, asked me if I was getting around okay without pain. Who even asks a stranger such a caring question? We chatted briefly, then I browsed the lovely displays of unique western food and goods in that store.

I left Idaho the next day literally wishing I could pick up Tab and all of our homes and drop everything all down in the Swan Valley of Idaho, along the Snake River in the shadow of the Rockies. Population 240, but more heart than anywhere else I have ever been.

4 comments

4 Comments

Kirk and Kathy Hickok

Nov 11, 2023

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It sounds wonderful, Mary. Can you imagine living in a place where the population is only 240?? My sister and brother in law lived in Corapeake, NC but even there, there were more people than that!! They were also a very friendly farming community. I am intrigued by North and South Dakota and Idaho. What is their main source of income? Is it farming??

Mary Martin

Nov 11, 2023

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Replying to

Idaho, like Wyoming and Montana, has been attracting the rich people of California to either buy up the vast amounts of uninhabited land, move there, and build on it (boo!) or build ski resorts (and river outfitters along that wild, beautiful Snake River) for tourists to come in, spend money, then go home again (yea!).

Historically Idaho potatoes have been a huge source of income. Noel and I look for them now.

North and South Dakota have pockets of tourism which are very crowded (the Black Hills of South Dakota have tons of campgrounds and cabin rental areas in between a chain of large towns. All because Mount Rushmore and Chief Crazy Horse are there; Dickinson, North Dakota, by the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, had an actual rush hour, although twenty miles away, you are the only car on the road!). I am not sure about farming. We saw animals grazing in the Badlands but crops could not be raised there.

Mary Martin

Nov 11, 2023

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Replying to

Kathy, I am learning but am no expert since we were only out there for 16 days and saw six states completely new to us.

My farmer’s wife friend from high school, in Nebraska (who is also a pastor!), told me that the eastern halves of Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota are all more like Iowa farmland while the western halves are the beautiful rock formations on which we were focused. I had messaged her that we were coming to her state but not coming anywhere near her part of it and she told me that was why!

Edited

Mary Martin

Nov 11, 2023

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Replying to

Another really interesting thing about the West is how much of it is Native American reservations. For example, we drove through the Wind River reservation in Wyoming which a map will show you is huge. But it is not obvious when you enter and exit. We only noticed the road signs referred to tribal law instead of Wyoming state law while we were driving through. So I believe those economies are completely separated from the state economies around them. Sovereign land.

One cute note: there were some tiny census areas, like the 240 people in Swan Valley. But we actually saw a census area of one person, outside the only house that was there for miles!!!

Idaho

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