Friday the 13th - Hagerman, Idaho

I slept at Love's last night and had a restful night once I remembered to put in my earplugs. I woke up about 3 am and made it to a pretty rest stop up the highway, where I took a bath, had breakfast, and did my exercises. 

I still wasn't sure where I'd sleep tonight. I had made a reservation at the Elk's in Boise, but was less than 2 hours away and I knew I wanted to drive farther. 

Just before Boise, I saw a sign for the World Center for Birds of Prey, and I perked up. What some of you may not know about me is that when I was younger, I worked at Cal State Bakersfield rehabbing raptors. I often took hawks, falcons and owls home and my sons have fond memories of those days. 

At any rate, I didn't know this place existed, so I made a quick right at the sign and after about 5 miles off the freeway, I ended up on top of a hill at their parking lot. They opened at 10 am and it was 10:20, so I missed the big "flight" exhibition they were putting on - but that's ok. I've seen plenty of falcons fly. 

Admission was $12 - I thought that was a bit steep with no senior discount. But I paid it. After all, it was for the birds and in the end, it was a pretty cool stop.

One of the things I was excited about was seeing 3 Condors. 

When I was about 15, I drove my great grandmothers '55 Buick to Pismo Beach for the day from my Grandma Mary's home in Nipomo, California. Back then, my grandparents let me drive everywhere without a license. In fact, I began driving myself to work at the packing house at age 13.  Anyway, on the way home, it was just getting dark and I was driving through Eucalyptus forest on a very narrow two-lane road. I came around a bend, and there in the middle of the road was a GIANT bird!  UGLY bird! Looked like something from out of Land of the Lost!

As I inched up to the bird, it refused to move. It was eating a rabbit, and would look up at me, but continued eating. Its wings went all the way from one side of the road to the other. I got closer and flashed my lights. It looked up then continued eating. I honked the horn. It continued eating. I inched closer and closer, honking and flashing my lights until FINALLY, the danged thing decided to give in. 

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

Those wings literally made that big old car shake as it took off, and I sat for another minute in awe.

When I got home, I was so excited. I told my grandmother and great-grandmother what I saw and they just LAUGHED AND LAUGHED! They did not believe a word of it!

Years later, at a zoo, I saw a California Condor. 
Only then, I realized how lucky I was to have seen it in the wild. 

And seeing these today brought back that old memory.

I stayed about 2 hours. It was worth the $12.  Then I hit the road and planned on sleeping at the Bliss Rest Stop. But holy heck! What a nasty place that turned out to be!  I smelled it the minute I got out of the car. The glass was dirty, the floors were dirty, the toilets were gross. I was afraid to touch anything. So I got in the car and drove to the next Loves. For those who don't know, many of them have RV parks with hookups and they will also allow car camping for one night.  I filled up the car with gas, because tomorrow I'll be heading off the highway to go to Lava Hot Springs. 

It was only 2:30 pm so I decided to take a drive to Hagerman along the scenic route. What a pretty drive it turned out to be! I found this really gorgeous rest stop. I may or may not sleep here. Depends on if anyone else shows up. I'm a little more cautious these days and right now, the only other person here is a trucker - I may just hang here until dusk, then head back to Loves.

I guess that's it. Dinner tonight was a Caesar Salad and a bologna sandwich. 

More tomorrow.

Happy Trails!

Love,

Annie