Idaho!! No U-da-ho! Part 2

So, you'd think after a long day in Hailey, then the next day would have to be much more chill. Um NO! Not for this family! Not this weekend!

We were out of the house by 8:30am. It was a race to the Farmhouse - a basque restaurant out in the middle of fricken nowhere... literally. This was Chad's requested destination. We'd been there before, and he was hooked.

That's a loaf of Basque bread!

Just look at that loaf of bread! That is totally indicative of the portion sizes you should expect. Plates the size of manhole covers, totally hidden by food.

After our mammoth breakfast, we were off to Twin Falls, Idaho. I knew we had some errands to run there, but what I did not expect to see was an AMAZING waterfall! Oh my goodness, there are actually falls in Twin Falls - who knew?! Right in the middle of what feels like a desert. Luckily, my mom did.

Shoshone Falls was the destination, but on the way there we stopped for a view of the gorge. Think the Grand Canyon, only smaller, like a Big Canyon or Large Canyon. It was really pretty - but it was nothing compared to Shoshone right up the road.

Wow.

After we regained the ability to speak (due to the loss of words at the falls) we were off again - this time to the "Toilet Bowl." It is found in another gorge, south of Twin Falls (I'd say half way between Mountain Home and Twin Falls, more or less), and it... was slightly underwhelming...

Conditions were not ideal..

Devil's Wash Bowl (the Toilet Bowl's official name), is a water feature found in the the bottom of a large gorge - apparently when conditions are just right there is a swirly thing that goes on, and it kind of looks like a toilet flushing. Unfortunately... the conditions were NOT ideal... and It kind of looked like some water in a canyon - it was beautiful scenery, but I think my mom was pretty disappointed.

Next stop - Miracle Hot Springs! Going there was Chad's other request. Idaho has some great hot spring activity, and Miracle contains them perfectly. Private rooms. Large public, hot, swimming pools. A resident alligator. Oh, and did I mention this day was the prettiest day ever? Yup, I spent over an hour (after an hour long soak) just sleeping in the sun. I'm thinking I was a bit Vitamin D deprived...

 Soaking up some sun!

 The resident alligator. Mom reminded me I'd first seen this guy when he was only a couple feet long.

Sounds like the perfect day, no? Well, no. Unbeknownst to any of us, it wasn't finished yet. On the way back home, mom remembered there was a winery!

Welcome to Carmela Vineyards - Glenns Ferry's only winery. It was great! The lady helping us was super excited to tell us everything about the wines. She let us taste every one of her 15 or so offerings, giving us the history or story behind each one. Come to find out, Idaho is a relatively prolific grape grower. Their wine culture is still young, but its pretty fun. I'm not going to lie, these are "the people's wine." Not hoity-toity, nose in the air wines. They had one named Giggles and another one called Wine-rita  (a very margarita flavored wine). Carmela's wines were definitely accessible, and made to be enjoyed by all - most of them were good, some of them not so much, but none of them so complex that the average Joe couldn't enjoy. I really liked this about the.

Mom was our DD but I convinced her to try a couple of the wines :)

Ok, finally, back home for dinner and some butt-to-couch time. Holy goodness, what an awesome day. Like, wow.

But the funny thing, there are still more amazing times to come!