We entered in Moscow, Idaho. We had trouble speaking to anyone there. It’s possible they were just not in the mood due to the bad weather in Washington State carrying on there. Despite meeting no one properly for hours, we finally met some absolutely lovely people at the Elkhorn Lodge in Grangeville. They were so friendly that they invited us for dinner and then we ended up hanging out with the staff all evening. It was a small family run place that was in the process of being renovated. It was one of the cleanest places we’ve been to (they told us they don’t use bleach, and I enjoyed the feeling of not being slowly poisoned like you get in the hotels that just cover everything in it rather than doing any real cleaning). More than that, they had the only memory foam mattresses we have encountered in 45 states. We were thrilled and both slept more comfortably than we had in a long time. They said only two rooms have it so far, but it’s well worth stopping there and, if the rooms are free, getting the memory foam.
Both of the women running the place were lovely and full of useful information. They told us it was a very friendly area, but very sparsely populated and probably not right for us given it was not known for tech or ESL.
One of them had also happened to live in Phoenix and had left after the 2008 housing crash. She said crash aside, it was a lovely place to live, which is good to know. She recommended against Scottsdale though, saying it was snobby.
The next day, in better weather, we discovered how absolutely gorgeous Idaho is:
It is full of clear blue rivers and rolling mountains. Like Oregon, it also has the pine fresh scent most places you go.
Here’s the video:
We have also now crossed the 45th parallel twice:
We also crossed back into Mountain Time, causing us to lose an hour. The line was again in an odd place. The top of Idaho is in Pacific Time, while in the middle, it goes Mountain (as does some of Oregon for some reason):
We ended the night in a hotel near the Boise airport, ready to see the city itself the next day after an evening of excellent Idahoan pizza and cider:
