Oddly, the city was not named for the 1500-foot expanse of waterfalls downtown. Those were put in for the city's hydropower. In the early 1900s, the town changed its name from Eagle Rock to Idaho Falls to attract tourists. Well, tourists have not overrun Idaho Falls. There are lots of Mormons, however.

We live in a desert. Built by early settlers, the irrigation canals that marble Idaho Falls made the desert habitable. Quenched by an aquifer the size of Lake Erie, the rocky soil grows potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets -- and my first garden ever. The growing season's short -- you've got June through October between freezes -- so those tomatoes loading down my plants will likely have to be ripened in my windowsill. Here's one of those awesome sunsets I rave about.

We no longer have a local brewery. Well, except for the Brownstone. But the North American Brewers Association puts on the nation's only not-for-profit Mountain Brewers Beer Fest every summer, and it's a lot of fun. The first Saturday in June is a good time to visit Idaho Falls.

Something like two-thirds of Idaho land is BLM or Forest Service, so it's not surprising that Idaho Falls is in the middle of National Park Central -- check them out. In fact, Idaho has at least twenty different national forests, with really cool names like Kootenai.