A special town...McCall, Idaho

After we left the Sawtooth region of Idaho around Stanley and Challis, we decided to head north toward the Coeur d’Alene area. We decided to stay in an Idaho state park and picked a town called McCall that is on Payette Lake. We were only going to stay 2 nights and then head further north. On the way into McCall, our brakes began to have a grinding sound. We had had them checked before we left AR so we didn’t think too much about it. We called our roadside assistance program and they located a place in McCall for us to have them checked. As it turned out, we had to have some repairs done that required parts to be ordered and they couldn’t schedule the work to be done until they had the parts there (you know how these stories go, right?). So, we ended up staying 6 days; not what we had planned but we ended up loving the town of McCall and the park there. The park is the Ponderosa State Park and is one of the nicest places we have ever stayed. There were hiking and biking trails, overlooks and miles of roads within the park to wall.

While we were there we also went over to the Hell’s Canyon Scenic Byway since we had never been there. The view of the Canyon with the mighty Snake River was impressive as you can see.
McCall is a fairly small resort town. In the summer it has much cooler temperatures that Boise, which is 2 hours to the south, so the weekends especially are busy there. In winter they have a ski resort, not large but nice. We were able to drive to the top of the mountain one day and you can see the valley below – very nice.

We also had some time to take care of some routine chores (yes, there are still plenty of chores to do even though we are not at home – fun things like going to a laundromat, cleaning the motorhome and buying groceries). Another thing we discovered is huckleberry picking. Late July and August is the time for huckleberries in Idaho (by the way, they are the state fruit). They grow wild and were everywhere is the park, so everyone just gets a container and picks away. I didn’t know what a huckleberry was, but they look a lot like a blueberry, but are smaller and sweeter. They make huckleberries into everything – ice cream (very yummy), pancakes, milkshakes and pies (also yummy). Believe it or not they sell for $25-40 per gallon on the side of the road, which is the only way you can get them. I have really grown to love the huckleberry ice cream, but it has not helped me lose any weight (imagine that!).

If you ever have a chance to go to Idaho, we highly recommend McCall and Ponderosa State Park. Now, our travels are taking us to the Idaho Panhandle where we will take the Selkirk Loop and then head into Washington. More pictures to come.