Weirdly enough, the Portland/Seattle area just doesn’t really have theme parks. There are a few waterparks around, but nothing with giant roller coasters. So we had to go to Idaho to find Silverwood Theme Park.

This is part of our 100 Things in 2018 challenge. Make sure to click on the photos!

The park itself is lovely. It opened in 1988, and has this nice Victorian/wild-west theme going on. We were there in late September, and they were just getting started with the Halloween-themed decor and props.

And oh, the roller coasters. We started the day by riding a wooden coaster backwards, which I do not recommend. Becky and I looked at each other afterward and wondered how old we were. The kids, of course, ran around riding everything in sight. We set some boundaries and then let them free to wander the park together while we holed up in an adorable coffee shop in the park. Each time we checked in with them they brought more friends to the meetup place. The lines weren’t too long, and we all got quite a bit of fun out of the day. At our final meetup they were soaked (from the log flume) and freezing, and had made an entire gang of friends. Youth!

Now you know we won’t drive to Idaho without seeing some Roadside America attractions. Here’s a sampling, including a Tardis coffee shop, an enormous wagon, some dinosaurs, and great ice cream.