It has been said of Idaho that if God doesn't live there, He at least has a vacation home there. Although the state is not the Garden of Eden, the rivers are full of fish, the land is fertile, the game is abundant, the scenery's terrific and people are few and friendly.

Idaho borrows a little from the Pacific Northwest and a little from the Rocky Mountain states to get its own distinct personality and look.  And that distinct personality seems made for the venturesome traveler, especially the venturer who likes the outdoors a lot. It boasts millions of acres of protected natural areas and has more whitewater miles than any other state except Alaska.  In total, it has more river miles (3,100) than any state including Alaska.

This primitive outdoors persona is balanced by Sun Valley, the area that probably draws the most tourists (and a few celebrities), but is considered somewhat unreal by the people who live in Idaho. At Sun Valley, activities are still centered out of doors.  But if you want French pastries and chic shops on vacation, this is where you'll find them in Idaho.

On the down-to-earth side, the state is best known as the place that gave its name to a potato and for good reason. The state produces about 28% of the nation's potatoes, and — for the interested visitor — the spud is celebrated at the Idaho Potato Expo in Blackfoot.

The biggest city (Boise) only has a little more than 180,000 people. Crime is rare, murder is almost beyond belief, jackets and ties are required nowhere.  Who goes there? As with other western, mountain states, visitors to Idaho lean toward the venturer side.  Listen to an Idaho native describe camping in the Centennial Mountains: "It's a wild, natural area full of bear, deer, elk, pumas, trout — and as close to heaven as possible." For many, that is the Garden of Eden.  When do they go? Winters are cold and summers are hot, so it's just a matter of matching what you like to do with the season.

Take a multiday trip kayaking or whitewater rafting; Idaho has more whitewater river miles than any other in the lower 48. Choices include the Lochsa, Middle Fork of the Salmon, the Payette and the Snake rivers.

At the Sacajawea Interpretive, Cultural and Educational Center in Salmon, sign on for a weeklong School of Discovery class to learn survival skills of 200 years ago, such as how to soften deer hide for clothing, prepare sinew for thread, prepare stone and bone as tools, butcher a buffalo with such tools, make medicines from available plants and create containers from clay or willow.

Camp out or rent a rustic cabin for a real get-away-from-it-all weekend in the 3 million-acre Caribou-Targhee National Forest. Take a guided tour of Minnetonka Cave while there, if you are in the right part of those 3 million acres.

Take a powerboat through Hells Canyon's rapids.

Use the 925 miles of trails in the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area for backpacking, hiking, horseback riding or mountain biking. Carry packets that include insect repellent, first aid kits, snake bite kits (rattlesnakes) and poison oak lotion!

Ride a mountain bike along the Route of Hiawatha Rail-Trail, once part of the Milwaukee Road. The converted rail bed takes you through nine cavernous tunnels, over seven high trestles and past waterfalls and ridge-top vistas in the Bitterroot Mountains.
Or, try the 72-mile riverside Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, or for more challenge, choose the Wood River Trails near Sun Valley.

Paraglide or hang glide over Sun Valley.

Go rock climbing in the suggestively named Rocks National Reserve, called one of the best granite-crag sites in the world.

Sign on for llama trekking or a horse pack trip.

Go off road on an ATV where countless miles of trails and old logging roads are available in national forests and Idaho state parks.

Follow the Lander Trail, which was the first government-built wagon road in the West. It provided the cutoff from the Oregon Trail to the California gold fields. You will see parts of trail rutted by 19th century wagons and tree carvings left by the pioneers.

Fish for trout on the Henrys Fork or Silver Creek, among other places.

Don a hard hat and join a tour, led by an experienced miner, into the Sierra Silver Mine in Wallace. Also, you can learn more at the Wallace District Mining Museum in town, not to mention at the Oasis Bordello Museum, also in Wallace. Attend homegrown theater in another former brothel, called the Sixth Street Melodrama. There were five brothels operating undisturbed in Wallace until 1973!

Take a hot-air balloon ride over the Boise or Coeur d'Alene area.

Ski at Sun Valley — or at any of a number of other resorts. In Ketchum, you can see the Sun Valley Heritage and Ski Museum.

Go fly-fishing on the South Fork of the Boise River, or in any of several other rivers.

Take the Ghost Town Photography Workshop, offered by Sumpter Photographics, in Silver City. It will be rustic living for the three days (no grocery store, no electricity — it's a real ghost town), but there is the option of staying at the Idaho Hotel ("like camping indoors") as well as camping out. See www.historicsilvercity.com.

Go back to school at Pay Dirt Farm School operated by MaryJanesFarm in Moscow, which offers one-week farm apprenticeships with a goal of fostering the development of organic farmers and consumers.

Make your trip an Oregon Trail reenactment — sort of. Many Idaho outfitters offer wagon ride options.

Go bird-watching in the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, noted for the world's highest concentration of nesting eagles, falcons and hawks.

Stay at a guest ranch. There are many to choose from.

Go where you can have a simulated wagon train experience, at the National Oregon/California Trail Center, located on the trail at Montpelier. The indoor interpretive activity relies on live actors who reenact aspects of wagon train life.

Soak in natural hot pools at Lava Hot Springs near Pocatello,

Attend an organ recital at the historic Paris Tabernacle in Paris, built by Mormon pioneers in 1889.

In Boise, tour the city on the Boise Tour Train, or take a Float Trip Tour (the latter available in summer). Or take the Holiday Lights Tour in December.

See Craters of the Moon National Monument, which looks like something out of science fiction. A volcanic episode left a ghostly plain dotted with strange formations of lava and rock.

Attend the outdoor Shakespeare Festival, produced in summers in Boise.

Tour the cool (50F) Shoshone Ice Caves near Shoshone. The caves are really a lava tube that is 1,000 feet long and varying from eight to 30 feet in height.

Participate in a trail ride or a dinner wagon ride in the mountains north of Ketchum.
 

For more information, consult the Idaho Travel Council at www.visitidaho.org

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