Thursday, September 3, 2009

September 2, 2009: Bethesda, MD to Stanley, ID

We woke at 4:45 am to throw luggage and ourselves and driver (friend Steve who is also house-sitting while we're away) into the car... on the road by 5:30 am for Dulles Airport and a 7:40 am flight to Idaho Falls with stopover to change planes in Salt Lake City. Our flights were largely uneventful except for having to wait on the tarmac for 30 minutes after our EARLY arrival in SLC (ground congestion) and suffering a broken bag (Victoria) as a result of having to check an intended carry-on on the commuter flight from SLC to Idaho Falls. (bag should be under warranty and/or airline should reimburse me although we didn't file a claim before leaving the airport because we were anxious to get on the road)

There was no line at the rental counter (Alamo) so we collected our car and our checked luggage and were on the road by shortly after 1 PM MDT. The road out of Idaho Falls is flat, straight and has almost NO traffic... hooray... we are in the land of no congestion again! One of the first things we noticed about the landscape was the strange dark color of some of the roadside scenery... and the dark rocks piled up along farmers fields... lava rock and lava plains from some long ago volcanic activity. The first part of our journey took us through fairly flat terrain with fields of sagebrush and flowers... and distant mountains under puffy clouds...
roadside view in Idaho
This lovely view was seen as we were leaving Idaho Falls, headed for Stanley, ID... probably within 45 minutes of Idaho Falls.
inactive volcano, lava fields and wild flowers
Flowers frame an inactive volcano near Craters of the Moon, Idaho... lava fields give the dark color to the middle ground...
farmland near Carey, ID
We were stopped for awhile by road construction after leaving Carey, Idaho... this was the view we had to suffer while waiting to get on the road again...
Papa Hemi's Hideaway in Ketchum Idaho
Our route to Stanley took us through Ketchum Idaho where we had dinner at Papa Hemi's Hideaway... fine food, great beer on draft... and live music while dining outdoors in the lovely mountain air!
Salmon River Valley between Ketchum and Stanley, Idaho
We passed through this lovely area on our route to Stanley... and now that I'm already a day behind with posting... look for more tomorrow about Stanley and our adventures in finding beautiful scenery and good food on our second day's journeys.

1 comment:

Erik said...

I absolutely love these photos! Too bad they are not full sized. I was wondering if you had the original for the photo from Galena on 75. I spend so much time there miss Stanley and would absolutely love to have this for a desktop background! I hope you can help me with that photo!