Howdy from Poky, Idaho!

“The trails at Grand Targhee were beyond our expectations.  About 1/3 of the way up we had zigzagged our way to the back side of the mountain where the rocky trail ascended the rest of the way right along the edge of the mountain with views of the Tetons all along the way …  And on this particular day we got an added treat along the trail …  at certain sections along the way, the sounds of bluegrass from the festival stage far below wafted its way up the mountain and provided a little more pep to our steps as we pushed up, up, up towards the peak.”

Poky. That’s what the townies here in Pocatello, ID call this small city in Southeastern Idaho that we’ve grown quite fond of over the past eight weeks.  When Pocatello came up as an option for Lisa’s next OT assignment for the summer months of 2018, we had never heard of it. But once we charted it on the map and realized its proximity to some fantastic weekend get-aways, we jumped on it as a great option since we wanted to be somewhere in the West for the summer. Plus, it was home to ISU (Idaho State University) and being a college town added to our interest.  It couldn’t be any more different than our Winter and Spring serenity we loved so much nestled on the Lake and in the tall pines at Cheraw State Park, SC.  But every place has its own unique and memorable special-ness in different ways, and this summer’s adventure has certainly lived up to that.

Like last summer in Laramie, WYO, we’ve been so blessed to have been “taken in” by our local hosts here in Pocatello!  There’s no doubt that getting to live “on-site” with people who have lived in an area for quite some time is an added plus to our travel life.  Getting to know new friends and have them integrated as part of our nomadic family life is priceless.  This summer we’re living in the additional side driveway at the home of Ruby & Lance and their 3 kids, Kya, Lander, and Carter. These guys had never before met us, and from day 1 they have made us feel totally embraced and welcomed here at their home … They lovingly refer to us as “The Campers” and moved their own camper, which is normally parked where we’re living this summer, so that we could homestead the Chinook, “FlyGirl” (the name we’ve given to our new Master bedroom, our Intech Explore Flyer addition that we now pull behind the Chinook.), and Scoot.

These guys are still in their prime of life (Ruby early 30’s and Lance 40) and they have a plan for early retirement – so between their day jobs and lots of investments in rental properties (plus Ruby is now doing Real Estate on the side) … it’s like Grand Central Station here in the driveway on Via Valdarno ! We do get a little quality time with them on occasion and really enjoy those moments, but mostly we are here a lot more than they are – especially during the week.  Of course on the weekends none of us usually stay around. After all … it’s Idaho … a paradise if you love being outdoors !  The kids are awesome and they seem to like having a couple of older ladies as summer residents on the other side of their garage !  (Oh, in case you’re wondering how we got connected with Ruby and Lance … it was via a Pocatello Facebook page that I discovered while we were still in South Carolina.  I introduced ourselves and simply made a pitch looking for a place that we could park for the summer months !  Ruby replied right away and the rest is history! )

Our weekends here in Idaho have been truly amazing as the location of Pocatello is well suited for lots of extraordinary weekend treks that are about 2.5 – 3 hours away …  we won’t even be able to get to all the places we have on our list ! (I notice that the locals simply tell people that all that Idaho has is potatoes … they like for all the tourists to stay over in Wyoming so it stays quiet and less populated in Idaho!)  Hopefully most of you are either mine or Lisa’s friends on Facebook since we’ve been  sharing most of our Idaho experiences through some fun and beautiful photographs over the past two months via FB.  So if you’ve missed those in your feed, scroll back through and enjoy sharing Idaho with us – some were Lisa’s posts and some were mine.

From Salt Lake City and Park City, to Stanley / Redfish Lake and Sun Valley, to the wild tubing ride on the Portneuf River and then some healing time in the 112 degree natural hot springs in Lava Hot Springs, to Yellowstone National Park via the West Entrance portal located just outside of West Yellowstone, MT (and what a fun weekend that was … we hope go back and explore the northern section of Yellowstone including Lamar Valley where we’d love to catch a glimpse of the Lamar Valley wolves and more wildlife there), to one of our favorite new areas known as “Wydaho” to locals but officially known as the Teton Valley (the West side of the Teton Mountains – Victor, Driggs, Tetonia, the Targhee National Forest and Grand Targhee Ski Resort area…), and of course the area right here around Pocatello and its surrounding hills.

For this post, we chose to share some pics from our most recent trip back to the Teton Valley where we returned for a second time after hearing about the annual Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival being held there. Having biked and explored the area the previous weekend, this trek would be geared towards hiking and listening to Bluegrass !

The trails at Grand Targhee were beyond our expectations.  And while it’s one of the top 5 locations for great mountain biking in the Northwest, we were pretty blown away by the beauty of the hiking trail we chose.  Starting at the base of the ski resort, the trail gained about 1700 ft. of elevation in about 3.2 miles.  About 1/3 of the way up we had zigzagged our way to the back side of the mountain where the rocky trail ascended the rest of the way right along the edge of the mountain with views of the Tetons all along the way …  Once at the top, the trail continued just a little farther to Teton Point and perfect views of the West side of the Tetons.  And on this particular day we got an added treat along the trail …  at certain sections along the way, the sounds of bluegrass from the festival stage far below wafted its way up the mountain and provided a little more pep to our steps as we pushed up, up, up towards the peak.

The hike took us a little longer than we expected, but we did ride the lift back down so we could get to the last day of the Bluegrass festival in time for some mid afternoon music.  The setting was quite spectacular and the crowd was diverse and fun to watch … it felt a little like a tiny 21st century drug free version of Woodstock – and there were some darn good hoola-hoopers who could swirl for hours and in perfect harmony with the bluegrass music …  It wasn’t exactly the southern traditional bluegrass that we had planned to hear, but it was fun times and great music, none-the-less … Even Mississippi born legend, Marty Stewart, along with his band, His Fabulous Superlatives, was one of the headliners.

As it turns out, it doesn’t matter at all if a place like Pocatello, ID has never been on your radar before … never been in your vocabulary before ….  there is beauty everywhere and there are amazing, welcoming people everywhere …  We have about a month left here and I don’t think we’ll get around to doing everything on our Idaho / Wydaho list before we leave.  So I have a feeling Idaho will be on our list for a return assignment in the years to come !  There’s so much in the Northern part of the state that we’d love to experience as well, but was too far for weekend treks this time around. For now, we can always say that one summer we loved living in Laramie, WYO where we loved joining the townies in saying  “Go Pokes”….  and the next summer we were living right here in Idaho in a place known simply to the locals as “Poky.”

We do love this scruffy nomadic life we’re living and thankful for so very much.  Thanks to all of you who let us know how much you enjoy sharing our life and adventures around the country (and the world sometimes!) via our blog and our FB posts …  it’s fun for us to know that some of y’all really do enjoy our sharing the experiences of it all !

We’re heading out to run some errands and try another fun little coffee shop/ cafe in town.  The head football coach at ISU and his wife live in the house a few feet away from Flygirl, so we’ve gotten to know them a little this summer.  We’ve enjoyed getting to know Jenny during our weekly “outside hangouts” complete with wine and appetizers. Ruby joins us and as well as the kids and Lance depending on who’s around at the time!  Coach Phenicie invited us to go to the first football game of the season here in a couple of weeks, so we can’t wait to step foot in Holt Arena for the kick-off of the 2018-2019 football season …  mostly we can’t WAIT to see the retro 70’s decor of Holt Arena that we’ve heard about !  Sounds right up our alley ! Pretty cool that it was the first ever indoor collegiate football arena, so we’ll be stepping into history !

[Opened 48 years ago in 1970 at the north end of the ISU campus, Holt Arena is the oldest enclosed stadium on a college campus in the United States and the second-oldest overall.  Only the Houston Astrodome completed in 1965, predates it. Since the Astrodome’s 2006 closure, Holt Arena has been the oldest enclosed stadium in use.]

We’re looking forward to a couple of upcoming visits from friends and then we’ll be swinging down to the Canyons of Central and Southern Utah for a couple of weeks of Canyoneering  before beginning our Winter migration back to the South …

We’ll be in touch –  And be sure to catch us on FB sometimes …

Much love from Idaho !

– The Two Scruffies

Karole Sessums