I had no idea how big Idaho was until I tried to drive across it long ways. Wheee-oh! It’s nearly 350 miles top to bottom. It contains a little over 83,500 square miles of land, but they say if it were stretched out flat, it would be almost as big as Texas.

Here are some other fun facts I didn’t know about Idaho - firsts, biggest and mosts:

• Sun Valley Idaho was America’s first destination ski resort. It was created in 1936.
• The world’s first nuclear plant was built in Arco Idaho in 1951. It was also the first nuclear plant to suffer a melt down in 1955.
• The deepest river gorge in America is Hells Canyon. Yes, it’s even deeper than the Grand Canyon at 7,900 feet deep.
• Idaho has the world’s densest population of nesting birds of prey- hawks, eagles and falcons.
• The largest man-made geyser in the world is at Soda Springs, ID. It was created in 1937 when drilling for water. Its on a timer to erupt every hour on the hour and shoots up 100 feet.
• The Gem State contains more miles of river than any other state - 3,100 of them.
• The biggest tree in the state is 177 feet tall, over 18 feet in diameter and over 3,000 years old. It’s a Western Red Cedar.
• The tallest single sand dune-470 ft- in North America is in Bruneau Dunes State Park.

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Winter festivals are an effective way of keeping down on the socially unacceptable craziness often brought on by cabin fever by replacing it with socially acceptable craziness, instead.

The natives of cold places with long winters tend to pull out all the stops for these rowdy town parties. Most of the events are held outdoors and nearly every form of ice or snow related competition is included. The McCall, Idaho Winter Festival is no exception.

There’s snowshoe golf, snow sculpting, tubing races, a snowmobile fun run and a closing ceremony with fireworks over the very frozen Payette Lake.

My pick for maximum entertainment value is the Monster Dog pull. They load down plastic sleds with weight about equal to the dog’s weight. Then, they see which dog can pull it the fastest in a monster dog drag race. There are different weight classes and the proceeds go to the regional animal shelter, Mc Paws.

Related Post: Idaho Skiing-Brundage Mountain

Some of the best ski areas I’ve ever been to are those undiscovered, hometown-syyle gems that your friends have never heard of. They only get a quick mention once a year in the big ski magazines and then fade back into obscurity again.

These are the true snow lover’s mountains. The mountains where more of the snow sliders are local season pass holders than destination vacationers.

These are the mountains where the kids playing hooky on powder days are there with their moms and dads, who are also playing hooky.

These are the mountains that every kid in town knows like the back of their hand and where nearly every adult has worked at one time or another when they needed the respite of a season in the snow.

Well, that’s the kind of ski resort you’ll find at Brundage Mountain, near McCall, Idaho. If you’d like to see what mountain lovers look like at Brundage, see these ski Idaho videos. Then make plans to visit a hometown ski area this year-you may never go back to a mega resort.