GREETINGS FROM KETCHUM,
Idaho (ID), USA
We are now in the lower reaches of the Sawtooth mountains, at Ketchum, ID.
This area and the nearby Sun Valley is a real resort area. On the hillside near our hotel is a chairlift up onto the mountain.
Today’s drive was really fairly short but we had a few interesting stops to make along the way. There are various
Idaho Falls ID to Ketchum ID
websites and apps we use for our USA travels and one is called “Roadside America” which is “a guide to offbeat tourist attractions”. And this part of Idaho must be a bit offbeat as we had quite a few today.
First stop was the town of Blackfoot. And totally unexpectedly we found it was holding the East Idaho State Fair this week and everyone was in town ! But our destination was the Idaho Potato Museum.
If you want to know about potatoes, then this is the place.
In addition to vast information about potatoes – not only in Idaho but potatoes generally – there were huge collections of potato mashers, potato peelers, the world’s largest potato crisp (made by Pringles in 1991), and various historical farm equipment and displays.
It is a bit tongue in cheek – even the lady on the counter playing along – but really quite interesting. The chief variety in Idaho is the Russet Burbank – “Goodness, Unearthed” ! And on the way out we got a free sample of instant mashed potato !
Next stop was Atomic City. Nearby Arco became the first town in the world to be lit by atomic power in 1955. I think Atomic City must have tried to “bask in its glow” but has since been nuked – it is now described as a “flat, isolated, ghost-town to be” ! So it was a quick drive down the main street, a wave from the guy sitting on a box outside his almost derelict house and back to the highway.
And onto Arco whose claim to fame actually came from the first Experimental Breeder Reactor built nearby by the US government in 1951. It is now a museum, which unfortunately closed for the season last Monday.
So it was photos only – and we didn’t enquire what was going on next door !
Arco also has “Pickle’s Place” – bright green building – where you can get the large “Atomic Burger”.
We decided it was a bit early for lunch (Roadside America says “do you get a satisfied glow after finishing your Atomic Burger?”)
But now for some more serious attractions. Beyond Arco is the Craters of the Moon National Monument. And we travelled on the aptly named Peaks to Craters Scenic Byway to get there.
It seems that vast areas of the USA have seen or are turbulent volcanic areas. This area of Idaho had activity as recently as 2,000 years ago and it reminded us of parts we saw in Hawaii last year. Parts of the area were used by Apollo astronauts to simulate conditions during training for the moon exploration flights.
Again we suddenly moved from vast farming lands to the rocky volcanic features and this area covers some 750,000 square miles. There is a scenic loop drive from the visitors centre which we took, stopping at various locations to walk into the volcanic fields and formations.
The weather has started to get hot and that was multiplied by the reflection off the volcanic rocks so we decided against some of the more extensive walks into the lava fields where there are caves.
From here it was only about an hour or so to Ketchum. Pretty much everywhere we have been has shown signs of a very hot summer. All the fields – unless under irrigation – and treeless hills and mountains are very yellow and brown. Really the only green is the forested areas and the occasional lawn around someone’s house. Dams we have passed have seemed to be at a very low level. The valleys through the mountains into Ketchum were the same. We drove around the town which is to some extent a “Swiss alp wannabe” – our hotel is the Best Western Tyrolean, very kitsch alpine architecture, but very nice.
Ketchum has a famous former resident – Ernest Hemingway. He lived here for a number of years – and died here, committing suicide.
For dinner we went to the Mountain Pizzeria. We shared Thai spring rolls for starters and delicious pizzas for our main with a side salad. The order of our courses is becoming a bit bizarre – tonight we got our salad first followed by our main then our starter – luckily it still all tastes great.
Tomorrow we take the Sawtooth Scenic Byway through the lush Sawtooth National Forest. Looking forward to it ….