My daughter has wanted to go to Idaho for the past two years. We were driving through Ohio, and she asked, "Is this Idaho?" Disappointed to find that it wasn't, I vowed that I would one day take her to visit this place that so captured her attention. 

We were not disappointed. It was magical.

We floated rivers, rode horses, climbed rock walls (indoors, anyhow), went to prison (Idaho State Penitentiary, now a museum), and waddled up dunes. We also went to the zoo and the World Center for Birds of Prey. It was a fantastic, if short vacation. 

One of the highlights for me was trying my hand at astrophotography for the first time. It went swimmingly, I thought. Of course, I should have listened to the Improve Photography Network's founder, Jim Harmer's (also an Idaho resident...maybe I should have contacted him first...) podcast on night photography. In case you're wondering, settings were generally F2.8, 25-30 sec, ISO 1600 on my venerable Canon 7D and Tokina 11-16mm. In retrospect, I should have gone with 15-20 seconds, and pushed the ISO up a bit, but I really can't complain. It was a super opportunity, and the darkest night of the month with the new moon. I'd love to say that I planned that out, but truly, it was just coincidence and dumb luck. 

Another lesson learned, when the Ranger you talk to on the phone says bring bug repellent, don't blow that off. As soon as the sun set, the mosquitoes were out in force. Isabella stayed in the car while I shot, and bravely battled and swatted them dead by the dozens. Kind of like that Jack story where the little tailor killed 7 with one blow. 

Here's a bit of what we experienced...