Fabric Store and a Bridge

I started a new hobby in Feb. 2020. It is quilting. My friend told me fabric stores in different parts of the country will often have a section of fabric MATCHING their surrounding area. (For example, a fabric store in the Southwest of the USA might have more fabric that shows a southwestern theme.) She showed me a book she used when they traveled around the country. The book has a new updated edition often. It is called Quilters Travel Companion and shows fabric stores from every state. Kevin bought me the latest edition and we decided that we “must” look up a fabric store in the places we travel. 🙂 This book is how we came upon the idea to stop at Rupert, Idaho. I had looked up the store on the map a few days before and saw there is only parallel parking in front of the store so we knew we would need to park a few blocks away since we were pulling our travel trailer. It being a Saturday, it wasn’t a problem to park farther away in an industrial area. The Gathering Place boasts 10,000 sq feet of fabric. Of course I found a cute Autumn fabric to buy. 🙂 Kevin liked this store a lot…he could relax while I looked around!

As we were checking out, the lady recommended Henry’s Dining at the Drift Inn for lunch. So instead of sandwiches in the trailer, we walked to the restaurant. We had what she suggested, “steak fingers” and they were very tasty. Think of strips of steak dipped in batter.

After lunch, we walked around the center park of Rupert, ID. It turns out it is quite a famous square. There is a lot of history here and there are signs to read the history of the town and the area. How did Rupert get its name? The town was first called Wellfirst, or Wellfast. The railroad delivered the mail to John Henry Rupert, who was the railroad employee in this town. The railroad people wrote “Rupert” on the bags and it would get to him. Soon the Reclamation Service had the name changed to Rupert. It was one of the first towns to get electricity.

More information on Rupert

Next we drove the rest of the way to Twin Falls / Jerome, Idaho KOA (“Kampground Of America”). This place was fantastic. Lots of big trees and great facilities. OH, BEFORE we had even bought the trailer, we wanted to book the campsite and so I had gone on the KOA app and put in a 20 ft travel trailer, no slide. Well, it turns out the one we bought is 26 ft and has a slide! Kevin called them the day after we bought it and they were very nice and said “for a small increase” we could have a yard. 🙂 Well, our yard was lovely and no one was on the side of us. We enjoyed the green grass, picnic table and campfire spot. 

We got set up (this was by 2:30 PM) and so we drove to Twin Falls and looked at a waterfall and then went to the visitor center of Perrine Bridge. 

The Perrine Bridge is approximately 1,500 feet in total length and is 486 feet above the Snake River.  It is the eighth highest bridge in the United States. The bridge is named for I. B. Perrine (1861–1943), who spearheaded the early 20th century irrigation projects in this area and is largely credited as the main founder of Twin Falls. The Perrine Bridge is a popular BASE jumping site. Jumpers often use the nearby visitor center as a home base before and after parachuting from the bridge. There is a path that goes under the bridge. We were able to watch several people jump off and float down to the ground. 

That evening when we got back, I fixed the first meal in the trailer – chicken nachos. I had cooked and seasoned the meat at home. It turned out great and all the appliances worked perfectly. We continued to sit outside into the evening. I felt so relaxed. I mentioned how peaceful it was and Kevin laughed and said he could hear people talking, kids yelling (having fun) and dogs barking. HAHA guess that is a benefit of being deaf.

Next time,  Craters of the Moon National Monument.