Jeff Sings and Hot Springs Round 4

Josh and I discovered a new band at the outdoor music festival Braun Brothers Reunion (BBR) in Challis last summer: the Jeff Crosby Band. Jeff is an Idaho native, and his band members are also from Idaho. We both fell in love with the sound of their music and we became instant fans. This past summer, we went to several of the band's concerts around the state, and each time we did, we soaked in different hot springs that were near the venue, to help achieve my goal of going to 30 hot springs in Idaho this year. Listening to Jeff's band and soaking in new hot springs were some of my favorite memories of the year. Because we coordinated our trips to include both attending live concerts and adventuring to new hot springs, they are tied together in my mind, even though the concerts never actually took place at a hot springs. This concert/hot springs trip in October was the 4th and final trip from this summer/fall.

Jeff Crosby had 3 back-to-back concerts in Boise on October 21-23, known as his annual "Homecoming Run". Josh and I drove the truck down to Boise after he was done with work on Friday. We checked into our hotel for the night, and then drove downtown. We parked, walked in the rain to get some dinner, then walked to the bar where he was performing for the night. His brother opened for him, and it wasn't too busy, but by the time Jeff's band started performing at 9:00, the venue was pretty full. There was a big dance floor in front of the stage, and we started off pretty close to the front, but then the dance floor got packed and we were squeezed into the middle. There were several super tall people who kept moving in front of us, which made it hard to see. Towards the end of the concert, we decided to just move back towards the far corner the dance floor, and we had much more room which was nice. 

Jeff's dad introduced his band. He has the same
JC shirt I do! I met him earlier in the summer
at the McCall outdoor concert. 

This was before the tall people squeezed in
between us and the stage.

Josh got a new JC shirt that night featuring a
donkey. He immediately put it on for the concert!

Darci Carlson was a guest performer for a few songs.

Jeff's brother Andy was another guest performer.

On Saturday morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed to Roystone Hot Springs, a small commercial resort north of Boise between Horseshoe Bend and Emmett. The family that owns it lives onsite, and they've added a lot of nice decorative touches, including lots of custom metal work. The facilities include a covered warm pool and a separate covered hot pool, as well as changing rooms, bathrooms, an outdoor pavilion, and a large indoor room you can reserve for get-togethers. We had reserved the hot pool and we soaked in it by ourselves for an hour. Even though the resort was right next to the highway, it was fairly quiet, and the covered building provided some privacy from the other guests who were using the nearby warm pool. The facilities were nice, and we had a lovely soak. This was the 30th hot spring in Idaho we've been to this year!

The building on the right is the covered warm pool. The pavilion
on the left stands between the warm pool building and the
hot pool building.

This was the large hot pool that we had all to ourselves. 

The building in the upper right corner is where the owners live.

After leaving Roystone, we headed west towards Oregon to go look at a camper van that was for sale that Josh had been eyeing online for a couple of months (he's been wanting to get a camper van ever since we went to Mexico as a family in 2019). We stopped for lunch in Emmett at the Rustic Pig BBQ. It was SOOOO good! Everything we ordered from there we loved! 

We took the mac & cheese and loaded mashed
potato sides to go because we were too full.

The weather was crazy that afternoon: I felt like we drove through all 4 seasons to get to Pendleton after leaving Idaho. We encountered sunshine, wind, rain, and even snow! We test drove the van once we got to Pendleton, and discussed some things with the owner. It's a 2000 GMC Safari. It has nice tires, is 4WD, and has a nice roof rack with a light bar. The owner had taken out the two back bench seats, installed hard flooring, and built a custom couch/bed frame in the back. The van had some issues with the regulation of the temperature gauge, so we offered lower than the asking price, which he accepted. We loaded it onto the new flatbed trailer we'd recently bought, tied it all down securely, and headed back towards Boise. 

The drive was about three and a half hours. We arrived back in Boise shortly before Jeff's band was set to perform again. We parked in a big parking lot a few blocks away and walked to the venue, which was at a different bar this time. The bar had more tables, but less dancing room, and there wasn't any seating available by the time we arrived. We sat out back in a covered area until their show began, and then we went inside and stood on the open dance floor the entire concert. Once again, it was jam-packed, and it was hard to move around, but the lighting was better, and we had a better view of the stage. A lot of people around us danced, and we had a good time. The band played some of the same songs as the previous night, but the set list was totally different, and the sound was more acoustic. I'm glad we were able to go to two of their shows back-to-back! There were a few others who we recognized from the previous night, but for the most part, it was a different crowd. 

After the concert, we drove to our hotel for the night, and the next morning, we headed back home. The weather was much cooler on the drive home Sunday than it had been on the drive down on Friday. There was fresh snow in the mountains!

It had been a nice weekend! Josh and I had both had a rough week at work, so we were grateful for the timing of the getaway. We had a nice time soaking in hot springs, dancing to our favorite music, and driving together. And we returned safely home with our new-to-us vehicle!