Funny thing happened this weekend. Thanks to the beautiful weather, I was inspired to try and show my family a part of Idaho they hadn't seen before. In the spirit of Clark W. Griswold, we set off on an adventure determined to see the City Of Rocks. We almost succeeded. 

Everything started out great. The sun was shining. We traveled south through Hansen taking in the amazing mountains all the way to Oakley. Beautiful old buildings there. It was when we made the turn in Oakley toward the City of Rocks entrance that I noticed something. No one else was traveling the way we were going. That should have been my first warning that something was wrong.

There was one sign beside the road that said "Road Ahead Closed - 3 Miles". I stupidly chose to ignore that and soldiered on. We went more than 3 miles and the road was still open, so obviously someone made a mistake. Yep, someone made a mistake alright. It was the dude behind the wheel of our car, me.

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If you haven't been to the City Of Rocks before, about 6 miles before you reach the entrance, the road changes from asphalt to dirt. There was another sign we passed that said "Road Not Maintained In Winter". It's not winter, I thought to myself. We were determined, so we kept going until we made it all the way to the City Of Rocks entrance.

I should note that we do not have an off-road vehicle. Nope, we have a family truckster that is built to carry all of my children. Yet, I was wheeling it like I was competing in the annual Baha desert race much to the dismay of my wife. The dirt was becoming mud, but I was not going to let that stop us from having some good old Holliday family fun. Oh, wait. Yes, I was.

Literally on the hill right before you start to get into the City Of Rocks area where it gets good, we noticed there were two people at the side of the road waving at us. I thought, "wow, people around here are friendly". They were, but that wasn't why they were waving. Their car had gotten stuck in the snow at the top of the hill and they needed a ride.

My wife bravely grabbed the camera and topped the hill to snap a few pictures as I meekly attempted to turn the family truckster around. The two scared stranded people rode back down the hill with us. Everybody screamed as I nearly ran over a ground hog.

To the state of Idaho, I have just one request. OK, maybe I have two. First, please maintain the freaking road to one of the prettiest parts of Idaho and/or put up a flashing neon sign that says "Hey, stupid determined father, turn around before you kill us all".

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