Ultimate Family Weekend in Twin Falls (Part I)

October has hit, which means two things: 1) it’s time to see some gorgeous leaves, and 2) we’d better get out and have some fun soon because winter is coming. Now is not the time for us to travel far. However, that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have an awesome family getaway just a few hours from where we currently live (Boise). So Twin Falls it was! Just a two-hour, easy drive from Boise, a weekend in Twin Falls offers an incredible variety of family fun and beautiful scenery.

Our only previous time in Twin Falls was over the summer when we visited its main attraction right in town: Shoshone Falls, aka “The Niagara of the West.” If you are anywhere in the area, visiting the falls is a must! We knew there was gobs more to see around the Twin Falls area, and the day trip we took wouldn’t cut it. Therefore, we decided to plan a two-night, three-day excursion to hit a lot of attractions at once. And what better time to do it than in the cool of the autumn?

Weekend in Twin Falls (Day 1)

City of Rocks National Reserve (Almo, ID)

We set off on our adventure one Thursday morning and headed straight to City of Rocks National Reserve. From the greater Boise area, City of Rocks near the town of Almo is about a 3.5-hour drive. Although Boise is not THAT big (yet), it felt refreshing to leave the “big” city and travel into small-town gems like Albion along the way:

The City of Rocks National Reserve near Almo, Idaho, is a must-see attraction while on a weekend getaway in Twin Falls.

Signature Rock

Not only is the City of Rocks ideal for family hiking and fall fun, it holds some major historical significance. The land today known as City of Rocks was once a part of the California Trail. We had recently toured the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon. This discovery, then, dovetailed nicely with what we had already learned.

I was astounded to learn about “Signature Rock,” situated close to the park’s entrance:

What could pass for an ordinary rock is anything but. Instead, it’s a time capsule of sorts. Pioneers on the California Trail would stop at this rock and sign their names. Later passersby would see the names of acquaintances who had traveled on the trail ahead of them. Wow! We love living history like this. Seeing the rock was a huge bonus to our visit.

Flaming Rock Trail

After gawking at Signature Rock and walking around its perimeter to make sure to see all of it, we were ready to hit the trails. A park ranger recommended the Flaming Rock Trail, located near Elephant Rock. He did not steer us wrong. The trail boasted magnificent vistas and included plenty of rock scrambling opportunities for boys. It was also not super long; perfect for a family of our size & ages.

Too soon it felt, we needed to leave City of Rocks and head 1.5 hours back to Twin Falls for the night. If you make this same trek, be aware that an abundance of deer hang out in this area. Sure enough, one deer jumped out in front of our car, and we came within mere inches of smashing into it. As it turned out, both we and the deer escaped unharmed. However, the incident obviously made us even more vigilant to scan the roadside on the drive back.

Weekend in Twin Falls (Day 2)

One unforeseen benefit of the lack of travel from Covid-19 is that hotel points are cheap right now. We were pleasantly surprised at how few hotel points we needed for two complimentary nights. The flip side to that was that the hotel pool and spa were closed. We definitely would have enjoyed time in the pool. However, as it wasn’t the main point of our trip, we considered it a very acceptable trade-off.

We were up and ready to go on day two of our weekend in Twin Falls. First up was a totally new experience for us–visiting an ice cave! The Shoshone Ice Caves are located approximately 45 minutes north of Twin Falls out in the middle of nowhere (but on the way to the Sun Valley resort town). We had tickets booked for a group tour with a homeschool field trip group. Being in our 8th year of homeschooling, one of the benefits we love most about homeschooling is the ability to chart our own course and schedule. That means being able to easily take a few days off in beautiful weather to experience some unique field trips before winter descends in full force.

The Snag of our Weekend

Even a great vacation getaway often has a few snags. And that was the case with our morning. We had some unexpected stress with our car–something wasn’t acting right, and we knew we shouldn’t drive it out into the middle of seemingly nowhere. We were in a rush that morning to get it to the dealership in Twin Falls (amazingly, mechanics were able to look at it that morning) and rent a car for one day to do our touring. Although it worked out, we made it to the caves only in the nick of time (we arrived EXACTLY at noon for a noon tour). My preference is to always be early for appointments but obviously we couldn’t help the circumstances. So, although we felt rushed and hurried onto the tour, we were thankful we made it at all.

The Shoshone Ice Caves

We loved seeing the unique topography heading out on the trail to descend into the cave.

The tour itself was decently short, but the history behind the cave was fascinating. Starting in the 1880s, after its discovery, the ice cave became an ice source for the entire town of Shoshone. Since then, it changed hands several times before becoming the privately-owned tourist attraction that it is today.

We enjoyed the tour; however, our (very young) guide was lackluster at best. I would have preferred a much more animated and enthusiastic guide who would have brought the uniqueness of the cave to life. Also, he had no microphone, so it was difficult to hear him as we were all single file inside the cave.

After the tour, we took a quick spin through the gift shop and museum and, of course, examined the two enormous figures outside: A green dinosaur named Dino (creative name, huh?) and Washakie, a former chief of the Shoshone tribe.

Thus completed our somewhat hurried but enjoyable visit to Shoshone Ice Caves. But we were ready to experience more of our weekend in Twin Falls. We had plenty of daylight left, not to mention plenty of gas in the rental car. Leaving the caves, we drove about an hour to our next stop: Craters of the Moon National Monument.

And that’s where we’ll pick up for our Ultimate Weekend in Twin Falls, Part II.

Have you been to Twin Falls? If so, what did you like most about the area? Or where would you like to explore for a long weekend away? Please comment below and share this post!