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Square Ice Cream and Fall Creek Falls
One of my favorite summer activities is going to Swan Valley and getting square ice cream and then going to see the Fall Creek Falls. This is a nice easy drive just a little less then an hour away from Rexburg. Two cautions is make sure your gas tank is full because there isn’t any gas stops between Ririe and Swan Valley and also watch out for wild life especially deer crossing the roads.
The square ice cream is located at Rainey Creek Country Store. They have a wide variety of different ice cream flavors. A lot of people like to stop here as they are driving to or from Palisades Reservoir.
Address: 2997 Swan Valley Hwy, Swan Valley, ID 8344 -Take S Hwy 191, S 2000 W, W 7800 S, Archer Rd and Heise Rd/Poplar Loop to US-26 E in Bonneville County.
-Turn left onto US-26 E
-Follow the Road to Swan Valley.
Here is also a link to driving directions and a map:
Fall Creek Falls is located off of the Snake River close to Swan Valley. People often refer to it as Swan Valley Falls just because of the location. Depending on the time off the year and how much rainfall or snow we have received the falls can have a lot of water coming down or not a whole lot.It’s a great place to people to take pictures and just relax to the sound of water falling.
Rigby Lake/ Jefferson County Lake
This weekend if you’re looking for a nice way to cool off with out having to travel far Rigby Lake is the perfect place. Located just off HWY 48 its just 15 Minutes from Rexburg. This location is great for families because there is a shallow end in the lake where kids can play safely. There is also a play set that is located on the shore of Rigby lake great for kids to play on while the mom tans in the sun.
Another popular thing about Rigby Lake is the nice paved path all the way around the lake. People can walk, bike, roller blade or even drive all the way around the lake. Different areas around the lake have bathrooms and also camp spots with fire pits. There are also a couple of different shelters that can be reserved for special events at the lake for big groups.
Directions from Rexburg
Take US-20 (south towards Idaho Falls)
Take Exit 322 (first Rigby exit)
At the stop sign turn right onto US-20 Bus/Farnsworth Way
Turn right (northwest) onto Stockham Blvd. (Wendy’s is on left)
Turn right at the stop sign onto Rigby Lake Dr.
Continue on Rigby Lake Dr., lake at the end
Fees:
Vehicle Entrance $5
Walk-in or Bike-in $3
Bus $1 per person
Jefferson County Resident Annual Pass (not for campsites) $30
Out of County Resident Annual Pass (not for campsites) $50
Payment is nonrefundable
Monkey Rock
With the weather looking like its going to warm up almost to the 80’s this weekend it might be time to look for some swimming spots. Monkey Rock is popular to locals and attracts many BYU-I students as well. This swimming hole is absolutely beautiful because of the beautiful waterfall that is there! Monkey Rock got it’s names because of the people that began climbing to the top of the water falls and jumping off.
Directions: From Rexburg get onto Hwy 20 going east. Turn right on 300 north. The turn is right after the St. Anthony south exit sign. You will go over some railroad tracks. Continue on this road through a few stops signs, the road will begin to curve left. At the “T” in the road turn right. A little ways down the road on the right side you will find Monkey Rock. Approximately takes 15 minutes from Rexburg to get there.
7N Ranch Mini Golf
While your enjoying your memorial weekend staying at Heise be sure not to miss out on the amazing mini golf course just down the road at 7N Ranch. This golf course is the most unique golf course you will ever see! It is made out of old farm equipment and is shaded with bushes and trees unlike most mini golf courses in this area.
Mini golfing at 7N doesn’t cost too much so it’s a great place to take the youngsters after they are tired of swimming. Families, friends, couples this mini golf course is for everyone of all ages.
One interesting thing about the mini golf course is that for one of the holes they used Heise Hot Springs old slide from the swimming pool. So a part of the old Heise is still a live over at 7N ranch.
Price for Mini Golf: 8 and older $6 7 and younger $3
Heise Hot Springs
Are you looking for a close but fun get away for Memorial weekend? Look no farther Heise Hot Springs is waiting for you. This place is great for a weekend get away because it has everything you need to enjoy yourself.
First thing you will need to is to pack your car with a tent because Heise has a beautiful campground located just off of the Snake River. You can roast marshmellows tell campfire stories and enjoy a night under the stars. If you aren’t too fond of the idea of sleeping in a tent Heise also offers a few cabins that they rent by the night.
Probably the main attraction at Heise is the naturally heated Hot Spring. They have the hot pools, a warm pool and also a cool summer pool that has a slide and a diving board. You can enjoy your saturday laying out by the pool soaking up the sunshine. If it’s not sunny during memorial weekend like its often not you can always just soak and relax in the hot pools.
Menan Butte Hike
An activity a lot of people in the Rexburg area likes to do is hike the Menan Butte also referred to mostly as R-Mountain. The reason it is also called R-Mountain is because there is a giant R painted on the NE side of the volcano.
This is a hike that goes to the top of an old volcano. Total it takes about two hours to complete the hike and it’s about 3.3 miles. Pretty much there isn’t any shade on the hike its more of a desert hike. Make sure to pack a good amount of water and maybe some snacks or a pack lunch to eat at the top of the butte.
Once at the top its a beautiful view you can see from miles. You can even see part of Rexburg which is pretty neat. The nice thing about this hike is its close to Rexburg and it doesn’t cost anything but the gas to get there.
TO TRAILHEAD: From Menan, Turn on N 3600 E a stay on the road until you reach the parking lot which will be on the right.
Also a couple of geocaches can be found close to the hike.
Geocaching
In order to find these geocaches you need to have a GPS or now you can even download an app on your phones. If you’re using a GPS you need to sign up online to the geocaching site and find out what the locations are for the caches and then you start your hunt.
On the app it will show you all of the caches in the area and you click on the cache you would like to go to and it gives you the directions. Once you find the cache you can log it so you know which ones you have found and which ones you still need to find.
Cress Creek Nature Trail
If you’re looking for a quiet Sunday adventure Cress Creek Hike is the perfect place to go. This is a hike that is located just off of the South Fork of the Snake River. You can hike up and look over the river and see the view is amazing. Throughout the first part of the hike there are picnic tables and benches so you can take a rest. If you’re looking to spend several hours at Cress Creek it’s always fun to pack a lunch in a back pack and eat on the hike.
Along the path of the trail there are different informational signs that can be read about the area. From information about different plants to how this area came to be after a volcano. They are a great read and makes the hike educational as well.
Directions:
From Rexburg take the Archer Rd South. Take old Highway 26 towards Heise.
To reach the trail turn left after crossing the bridge over the South Fork of the Snake River as you head towards Heise. This is just north of the MountainRiver Ranch. The gravel road will head north west along the river. The parking lot, rest rooms, and trail head will be obvious on the east side of the road.
Tautphaus Park Zoo
Finding things to do in a smaller community can sometimes be a challenge to people not familiar with the area. Eastern Idaho has a lot more to offer then what people see. Often times people say there isn’t much to do around Rexburg, but there actually is a lot of places to see and new activities to try. Over the course of the next 12 weeks two different places to see or things to do in Eastern Idaho will be posted to this blog.
Located in Idaho Falls there is a small zoo, Tautphaus Park Zoo to be exact. It’s not the huge zoos you see in the bigger cities like San Diego and Salt Lake City, but there is still much to see. This is fun for all ages whether your a mom with young kids or a college student looking for a date idea.
Here is a little information about pricing and hours.
Admission Prices:
Regular
Adults (13-61): $7.00 (includes tax)
Seniors (62 & over): $5.50 (includes tax)
Children (4-12): $4.00 (includes tax)
Children (3 & under): FREE
Zoo Members: FREE (w/membership card)
Parking: FREE
Group Rates (schools, scouts, and groups of 20 or more)
Adults (13-61): $6.00 (includes tax)
Seniors(62 & over): $4.50 (includes tax)
Children (4-12): $3.50 (includes tax)
Children (3 & under): Free
Hours of Operation:
April 11 – May 24 and September 2 – October 4
Daily: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Last admission: 4:00 p.m.; grounds close at 5:00 p.m.
**Due to a special event fundraiser, on September 11, 2015 the zoo will close early.
Last admissions will be at 3:00 p.m. and the grounds will close at 4:00 p.m.**
Memorial Day Weekend (May 23) – Labor Day (Sept. 1)
Daily: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Last admission: 5:00 p.m.; grounds close 6:00 p.m.
October through March the zoo is closed for the season.
Directions from Rexburg:
Tautphaus Park is only located 34 minutes from BYU-Idaho’s campus/
Get on US-20 W from University Blvd
5 min (2.6 mi)
-Head west on E 7th S toward S Center St 0.5 mi
-Turn left onto University Blvd 1.7 mi
-Turn left to merge onto US-20 W toward Pocatello 0.4 mi
Follow US-20 W to Fremont Ave in Idaho Falls. Take the exit toward Riverside Dr/City Center from US-20 W
21 min (23.3 mi)
-Merge onto US-20 W 23.2 mi
-Take the exit toward Riverside Dr/City Center 0.1 mi
Continue on Fremont Ave. Take Riverside Dr, Memorial Dr, S Capital Ave and Rollandet Ave to Rogers St
8 min (3.1 mi)
-Turn left onto Fremont Ave (signs for Riverside Dr) 0.4 mi
-Continue onto Riverside Dr 0.6 mi
-At the traffic circle, take the 1st exit onto Memorial Dr 0.3 mi
-Turn left onto W Broadway St 312 ft
-Turn right onto S Capital Ave 0.6 mi
-Turn left onto Pancheri Dr 0.2 mi
-Continue onto W 17th St 410 ft
-Turn right onto Rollandet Ave 0.8 mi
-Turn left onto Rogers St 0.1 mi
Product Redesign Completion
Project Overview
The product redesign project really had two major requirements. First, I needed to pick a specific product that I could use to do a package redesign. The package redesign needed to include the logo of the company/brand and also a copyright or trademark symbol. We needed to created a nutrition fact label to be on the product and a bar code. In addition to the package redesign I needed to create a style guide booklet that would explain the colors, fonts, target audience, and have a big idea that would go into creating the new design. The style guide also needed to include pictures of the old packaging and new. After the design was all completed it was required to have some form of advertising to promote the product.
Client and Product
My client well known its the Mountain Dew company. The product I wanted to use for my redesign was the glass Mountain Dew bottle. I felt like this was a classy form of mountain dew I wanted to improve their design and target it more towards a different audience. One cool fact I actually just found out today is that Mountain Dew is releasing a new form of Mountain Dew called DewShine that will be only in glass bottles.
Problems
The biggest problem I encountered during this project was probably at the very end when I went to print out the book. I first saved the PDF wrong and then when I saved it the second time half of my information disappeared in the PDF, but still was showing up in the InDesign file.
Another problem I encountered was getting creative block. I got stuck on an idea that wasn’t working, but I was stubborn and wanted it to work and I finally just had to start over.
Solutions
To fix the printing problem I actually have to go back in a retreat my master page and then reapply it to all the pages again. I don’t know why on random pages certain things wouldn’t show up but redoing the master page fixed that problem.
For the creative block I just had to remind myself that I wasn’t married to a certain idea and that I could change it at any time. In the end that is what I had to do my first idea wasn’t looking good and it probably wasn’t ever going to look good so I had to let it go and start over.
Challenges
This project really challenged me because I wanted to make product that my potential client would want to purchase from me. I am thinking about actually approaching Mountain Dew with my new design and seeing if it is potentially something they might want to buy from me and use on future packaging. Having the client in mind while doing a project really makes it more challenging because it really doesn’t matter how much you love design it happens how much the client is going to like the design.
 
About Tasha Larsen
