Preston, ID

We did this a while ago, I didn't mean to be so slow posting it but here it is anyway.

At the beginning of April and October, the LDS church holds a general conference. It's two hours in the morning and afternoon, with two hours in between. We like to listen to it on the radio while we drive somewhere, this year we didn't really plan, we just got in the car and drove. We ended up in Preston, ID- which is where the movie Napoleon Dynamite takes place and was filmed.

The first thing we did when we got to town was hit up the DI, where Napoleon got his awesome suit. We couldn't quite find one that good.

Along main street we also saw the Cuttin Curral, and the studio he goes to for Karate.

There were some stores with Napoleon merchandise, we didn't buy anything, but it was fun to look.

We ate lunch at the New York Deli, it was really good sandwiches, right on main street as well.

We also went by the schools and the playground from the movie, and we were going to see Napoleon's house but ran out of time. Here is a map of the places you can see from the movie if you want to go explore as well. 

Soda Springs, ID- Man-made Geyser

For those of you who follow this blog, you will notice that I haven't been posting every week. My goal was a year and I got almost there before my husband and I decided we want to repeat some things, we will be posting still whenever we do something new, which I hope will be pretty often.

On to last weekend! We went to Soda Springs. Each year the first weekend in October and April we listen on the radio to the LDS general conference which has two 2-hour sessions on Saturday with 2 hours in between. It is the perfect time to go explore somewhere new. Last Saturday we drove to Soda Springs, ID.

Soda Springs has a man-made geyser. It goes off every hour on the hour and the spray lasts about 7 minutes. It's not that exciting just to watch but if you are willing to deal with the sulfur smell you can get right up into the spray, which is really fun.

Between sprays we walked across the street to Main Street Diner- we weren't sure what we were going to think but the food was so good. My husband got hand battered chicken strips and I had a hamburger. It was a really good place to eat and the timing was perfect to go back across for the next hour's spray.

Further down Main Street they have a great park that we also stopped to play at. It seemed to have everything, swing sets with baby swings, merry-go-rounds, volleyball nets, basketball courts, a big gazebo. It was a fun place to stop and play too.

There are other historical parks and things throughout Soda Springs but we didn't take the time to go see them all. We really enjoyed our day, the drive was nice and the time there was really fun.

Also, as a note for an upcoming event, Events 4 Idaho has a short description of the Annual Chocolate Fest in Idaho Falls which will be held on October 22 this year.

Salt Lake City

Last weekend we went down to Salt Lake to meet up with some of my family so I would like to let you know some of my favorite things to do there.

1. IKEA: I love this store, it has furniture and household items for a pretty good deal but even if you don't need anything plan a few hours (really, it takes this long) to go through. They have a ton of different rooms set up you can wander through and get decorating ideas, they have a kids play place you can drop your kids off while you wander, and they have a cafeteria style restaurant that is super good and reasonably priced. I would go and spend all day there if I could.



2. The church history museum: Across the street from temple square is another place I could spend a lot of time. The exhibits often change but it is often overlooked by people just visiting temple square.

3. LDS Church Welfare building: starting in temple square you can take a free tour where they take you out to the Welfare building and show you the things there, if you have time you can also stay and volunteer a while. Once we helped put together buckets of cleaning supplies that were going to flood areas. It was a really neat experience.

4. Porter's Place: Porter's Place is actually south of Salt Lake on main street in Lehi. I can't speak for all the food here because it is not why I go. They have a bunch of fun (non-alcoholic) mixed drinks with crazy names. They are so good, we usually just get drinks and some scones for a treat. Porter's place is such a fun place with a lot of historical significance (you'll have to go to find out why).

West Yellowstone, MT - Pizza, Playmill

This was a last minute trip that we made with my sister to meet up with my grandma and her husband before the weather got bad. We didn't go into Yellowstone because it's costs about $25 a car.

The drive was beautiful, about 1 1/2 hours north of Rexburg, just follow highway 20. The town of West Yellowstone is full of cute little touristy shops. There is a Bear and Wolf discovery center and an Imax theater. In the off season (i.e.- not summer) there are quite a few places that are closed, but during the summer it does get pretty busy, so be warned of that.

We ate lunch at Wild West Pizzeria and it was SO SO good. By recommendation we tried a local favorite that had bbq sauce, baked beans, red onions, and beef on it. It was way better than I expected, it was great. We also had the "Sitting Bull" which was basically meat lovers but also so good. It's also right across from the Playmill theater, which was closed for winter, but we'll be going to a show next summer for sure.

We also had ice cream at a place where they mix whatever flavors you want and there was a super cute little candy store with all sorts of old and new candies.

Anyway, it was a fun little trip, I love exploring new places.

Mesa Falls, Byways, and Ashton, ID

So I know it's a little bit of a drive (65 miles) but super worth it. Mesa Falls is North East of Ashton along the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway. The Byway is accessible through Ashton or Island Park and is a beautiful drive. Cost to get into the park where Mesa Falls lookout is $5 a car, and for me, it was worth it. The drive there took us a little over 1 1/2 hours, but we stopped at every scenic overlook. We had our picnic lunch and walked around a bit. There are two falls. These are the lower falls but can only be seen from a distance.



A mile up the road are the Upper Falls, which are much more accessible. There is also a neat little visitors center and museum where you can feel all sorts of animal skins and see what it would be like to have antlers.

It's a very family friendly place to visit with lots of easy pathways to see everything from. We had our baby in the front pack which was a little easier than a stroller because there are a few paths that have stairs.

On the way back we stopped in Ashton at a giant root beer float we had seen on the way up.

Frostop's drive-in was a super fun place to stop for a treat on the way home. The Mr. thought it was a super root beer float. I had ice cream because I noticed too late that they had huckleberry milkshakes. But I did notice they had these funny toys there for kids to play on.

Anyway, if you head up that direction there are a lot of other little hikes and things to see along the byway, but we only had a couple hours to stay there. More information can be found at the visit Idaho website.