Being “new to town” hasn’t gotten old yet. It’s still a continual summer vacation, even though I’m technically home. Every single weekend is an opportunity to explore somewhere new. The Pacific Northwest to the Big Sky is so diverse, ranging from farmland to forests to waterfalls. It feels like we’ve already seen so much but we’ve barely made a dent in the Idaho bucket list. Which is okay. Because we plan on being here for a while. :)

How many times do you go on vacation thinking, “wouldn’t it be nice to live here?” Some day this vacation mentality will wear off but I’m soaking it in while it’s here. I’m so proud of the fact that my family and I take full advantage of our free time to venture out to new-to-us places and explore constantly. We definitely won’t be able to look back and call ourselves couch potatoes!

This weekend’s adventure took us to Idaho City.

Idaho City is somewhat of a “ghost town” about an hour outside of Boise, but it’s a very scenic drive following the Boise River past a giant reservoir through the foothills and up into the mountains. We reached about 6,500 ft. elevation and it’s crazy how drastically the scenery changes in just 60 miles or so.

Idaho City is a tiny western town…as in population 468. The ghost town was historically the largest city in the Pacific Northwest during the gold rush. It’s civil war-era charm is preserved with original buildings like the court, city hall and homes along Main St.

You can’t miss the eclectic antique shop. It’s a pretty picturesque pile of junk.

We walked the entire town…..in about 20 minutes :) I can’t imagine living where everyone literally knows everyone else but it’s fun to think about. We couldn’t leave without iced coffees from Sarsaparilla’s Ice Cream Parlor, complete with a vintage Barbie fridge and huckleberry flavor everything. We stuck to the usual: iced americano’s with sugar-free caramel and even though we all eyed the amazing ice cream, we seriously tested our willpower and fueled ourselves with grapes and apples instead.

We had grand intentions of hiking 6 miles along a creek but A.) My mom and I are terrified of bears….or really any wildlife in general. And B.) We discovered we didn’t have the right parking permit. But we enjoyed the gorgeous views driving along the mountains and creeks listening to country music and sipping iced coffees so no complaints :)

My all-time favorite TV show Gilmore Girls is like that. Their town, Stars Hollow, is that charming New England town with the town square and town hall meetings, one diner and one church. That simple lifestyle is so attractive when nowadays cities are so big and we are so small. The more advanced we get with technology, the more detached we become and it’s refreshing to see actual communities. I know that everyone wants what they don’t have. People from small towns probably dream of living in the big city just like I dream of downsizing. Still, day vacations like these are so fun to see how dramatically different other people live.

We weren’t ready to call it a day yet, so we had a spontaneous detour to Lucky Peak resevoir….the closest thing to a “beach” we’ve got 1,000 miles away from the ocean. :) Next on the bucket list: wake-boarding and paddle-boarding. Time to meet some friends with boats…

Our weekend also included watching Track & Field Olympic Trials (FOUR of my old college teammates competed and THREE are moving onto finals…..GOOO Lumberjacks!). I also had a Pinterest Win with some American flag chocolate-dipped pretzels that I took to a new friend’s BBQ on the 4th of July. (I don’t always nail my Pinterest crafts – but when I do, I forget to take a picture. #bloggerfail.)

Hope you had a fantastic 4th of July weekend celebrating America!