Pocatello

Lia and I arrived in Pocatello the way most people do — passing through on I-15 between somewhere and somewhere else — and nearly kept driving. What stopped us was the sound of a freight train’s horn rolling down through Old Town, long and low against the hills, a reminder that this city exists at all because the Oregon Short Line once decided to lay tracks here. We parked, wandered into a coffee shop housed in a hundred-year-old storefront, and the plan to stay one night quietly became two.

Old Town and the railroad legacy

Pocatello’s downtown, still called Old Town by residents, is a tidy grid of early-1900s brick buildings built on the wealth the railroad brought through. The old Union Pacific depot, all Mission Revival arches and red tile roof, anchors the district, and the Bannock County Historical Museum inside walks through the city’s start as a rail junction on land leased from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Lia and I traced Center Street past antique shops and a converted movie palace, ending at a taproom pouring beer brewed two blocks away — the kind of small-city loop that rewards slow walking rather than a checklist.

Idaho State and the hills above town

Above downtown, Idaho State University’s campus climbs a hillside of manicured lawns and columned brick halls, and we spent an evening walking it after a tip from a barista about the view. From the ridge behind campus, the whole valley opens up — sagebrush hills folding toward the Portneuf Range, the city lights coming on below. The next morning we drove twenty minutes out to Lava Hot Springs, where mineral pools sit right along the river; we soaked until our fingers pruned, sharing the pool with retirees, a bachelorette party, and, memorably, someone’s leashed llama waiting patiently on the deck.

Getting There

Pocatello Regional Airport offers limited connecting flights, but most visitors fly into Idaho Falls, about fifty minutes north, or Salt Lake City, roughly a two-and-a-half-hour drive south on I-15 through open range country. The interstate makes Pocatello an easy, scenic stop for anyone driving between Yellowstone and Salt Lake, and downtown is compact enough to explore entirely on foot once you’ve parked.