gertie’s

Twin Falls: Couchsurfing, Pizza, Waterfalls

We spent a day off couchsurfing with Jake and Danielle Migler in Twin Falls Idaho. They were awesome hosts! Here’s a couple things that were amazing.

1) We ate at a delicious pizza buffet – called Gertie’s. It’s one of those places where they bring the pizza out to each table, kind of like a Brazilian Barbeque churascuria type place except with pizza. This was a joy for the famished (the four of us), and even though I don’t normally like desert pizza, these were the best I’ve ever had. You could also request pizza. I requested various vegetarian option. Others got the idaho special: Pizza with bacon and hash browns on ranch sauce instead of tomato sauce.

2) They’re setting up an “urban homestead” and use a lot of the same techniques I’m employing in Austin – because we get our info from the same book! Check out “URBAN HOMESTEADING”
- This means that they have they’re whole backyard transformed into a garden, including self-watering containers. They raise chickens and eat their eggs, they’re xeriscaping their front yard, they compost regularly and with vermiculture, and have a lot of other cool things in the works.

3) We visited Shoshone Falls, “The Niagra falls of the West.” Once again, pictures are worth more than words.

4) We got to go rock climbing again, which was sweet. There we met some other climbers who also couchsurf, and hooked us up with a guy to climb with in Salt Lake City!

5) Amanda and Hooch watched “Star Wars: A New Hope” *the original* for the FIRST TIME. I know, Ryan and I couldn’t believe it either. What’s worse – Amanda fell asleep in the middle of it!

6) We learned some secret computer hacking techniques that I can’t tell you about.

7) You won’t believe this – the water from the city of Twin Falls is poisonous. It has unsafe levels of Arsenic in it – over EPA standards. They don’t change it because it costs more to fix than to deal with the lawsuits from cancer patients and their families (once they die). HOW SCREWED UP IS THAT! To me, the problem is that they don’t tell anyone. I think that the city should either (a) not provide water for their citizens, or (b) fix the problem. If they’re providing water, we in the US have the assumption that it won’t kill us. You can bet I’d be involved in local politics if I lived in Twin Falls.

All in all it was a great stop, and a wonderful place to take a day off after a long drive and a bunch of shows in a row.