08/30/98

Post Register - Idaho News

Category: Feature Living

Published: 08/30/98

Page: E1

Keywords: Travel

Byline: Clay Carpenter  

Highway 20 has the distinction of passing through all four "I" states - Idaho, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. Idaho is the first. A short way into the Gem State, Route 20 merges with Interstate 84 near the state capital, Boise. It separates near Mountain Home for a lonesome trek across the high desert, past numerous recreation areas and through tiny towns. The road cuts just south of the luxurious resort town of Sun Valley, where Ernest Hemingway died and is buried (his birthplace is up the road in Oak Park, Ill.), and twists through the aptly named Craters of the Moon National Monument. Driving through the lava beds, you're surrounded by the peculiar, uniquely crunchy earth. If it's spring, stop and check out the wildflowers here. At Idaho Falls, the road starts climbing north, and the drive gets more scenic as you approach Island Park. Look out the window. That's the world famous Henry's Fork of the Snake River. Hope you brought your fishing rod.

HIGHWAY HIGHLIGHT: Arco was the first town in the world lighted by atomic power, when the Atomic Energy Commission lit the town in a demonstration on July 17, 1955. The town of about 1,000 on the high desert west of Idaho Falls now celebrates the event with its Atomic Days festival every July.

QUOTE: Fred Johnson, mayor of 386-resident Fairfield, Idaho, talking about an "X-Files" episode set in a fictional big-city Fairfield, Idaho, with a big zoo full of exotic animals and a skyscraper: "I guess if people want to believe it, that's fine. ... Any kind of notoriety to get people here helps us, even if it's not true."