Is it really mid-August already? I can’t believe that it has already been a few weeks since we moved out of our home in Atlanta, packed our car and drove across the country. I must admit, it feels a little strange to not spend my days working at the office. But so far, it feels like we have only been on the road long enough for it to be considered a long vacation. I imagine after a couple more weeks, the feeling of being officially “jobless” will set in.
We have spent the last week enjoying the company of my family in my hometown of Nampa, Idaho. It has been wonderful to actually have time to relax. Typically when we have come to visit in the past, we only stay for about 3-5 days…so it’s always a rushed visit. But this time we have been able to visit with friends and family.
Feeling Like a Kid Again at Home in Idaho
The day after we arrived happened to be my niece’s 7th birthday. So we had a great time visiting with her during the birthday party and jumping on the backyard trampoline — it felt like I was a kid again! I was very lucky to grow up in a great home with an awesome, and huge backyard with tons of fun things to do.
So there is always a bit of nostalgia when coming back here. We even got Josh up on the trampoline to play “popcorn” while we plotted to ambush him with my dad’s gigantic water canon (that move backfired on me)! We were also able to take a ride up into the Central Idaho mountains in my parent’s RV.
This was Josh’s first time riding in the big bus-style RV, and he got to ride shotgun up in the front with Dad. He learned soon why some of us are scared to ride in that seat! We were able to camp just off the highway along the Payette River on the way up. It was awesome to open the windows at night and hear the rushing white water from the river just outside our door, I slept so well!
The next day we went the rest of the way to the Sawtooth Wilderness, where we camped near Redfish Lake outside Stanley, Idaho. This is one of my most favorite places to camp in all of Idaho. The massive jagged mountain peaks pierce the sky, and in the shadows are glaciers year-round. I was so happy to finally be able to share this place with Josh. I think he fell in love with it too.We spent a long weekend camping and hiking around in the beautiful Sawtooth Wilderness near Redfish Lake.
We were also able to head down the Salmon river and check out Sunbeam natural hot springs, which flow out of the mountain and into the river. Visitors arrange rocks in the river to create natural pools that mix the boiling hot spring water with the cool river water. Relaxing in this natural spring is a great way to spend an evening just before dusk.
Still even with all this rest, it seems like we were always busy. In particular, leaving for an around the world adventure comes with a long laundry list of things to do to prepare. As mentioned in our previous post about the details for preparing for this trip, we have been tying up all kinds of loose ends. So there have been a lot of little things to do!
We also had to make some time to prepare for the upcoming Geocaching Block Party in Seattle this weekend! We are really looking forward to the event, and are actually heading up to Seattle right now. In fact, we have some newbie Geocachers in the car with us, my parents!
In particular, my dad got a kick out of his new Garmin device and being able to hunt geocaches all over Idaho. Being almost at retirement age, this is something that he and my mom can do together during all their road trips. And they are on the road a lot (the apple didn’t far from the tree)! So watch out for RVCaptain out there on the caching trail!
So we are off on the next leg of the trip — Seattle Bound!!! Good bye Idaho, it will be a long time before I see you again.
