Idaho, Part 5

After leaving Hailey and the Sun Valley area, we spent a day traveling to Riggins, Idaho. Riggins is noted for outdoor activities, such as fishing, horseback riding, and river rafting, which is what I was going to Riggins to do.

I have to take some time to talk about our hotel. We stayed in the Riggins Hotel; the rooms really reflected the feel of the West, with knotty pine furniture and Native American designs on the bed throws. This was a nice, clean, comfortable little hotel run by a husband and wife team. We had two very quiet evenings there. I'm posting a couple of pictures to give you more of an idea of the accommodations.

My half-day river rafting trip was supposed to start at 1 p.m., but I had trouble finding the launching point. (If you ever have to get to Patterson Memorial Park in Riggins, it's down the hill behind the large parking lot on the river side of the road.) However, once I met up with my party, we set out. I had booked my trip through Epley's Whitewater Adventures, but my guide, Jake, actually worked for Mountain River Outfitters instead. Regardless, it turned out to be a pleasant and educational trip. I floated with two other visitors for nearly two hours on the Little Salmon River. Most of the rapids were fairly small, but we still managed to get wet several times. The photos I'm posting were taken from the road the next day; my camera is new, digital, and not waterproof, so I didn't want to risk having it get soaked.

Jake explained that the flats along the river were often the result of miners who built small homes and mined for gold and silver. Once a year they would take their findings down river to sell, then buy supplies and return. One particularly large flat was originally used by the Nez Perce Indians as a wintering ground for their horses; it was later used by miners and other settlers as a place to pasture their mules and horses. There were a few places where mining equipment could still be seen on the shores.

Jake also pointed out a local orchard and the sales stand where you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables. A number of people in the area apparently hunt and fish to supplement both their incomes and diets. River rafting, fishing, and other outdoor sports provide much of the employment in the area.

On September 9th, we packed up and headed north, stopping for a few minutes at the Whitebird Battlefield, where Nez Perce Indians fought U.S. Cavalry and infantry. This was the first battle in a war that eventually resulted in the Nez Perce being removed from their land and placed on reservations. We will see more of the Nez Perce on this trip in a later entry.

On our way up to the Winchester, Idaho, home of the Wolf Education and Research Center, we passed a place called Dog Bark Park. The first indication we had that this was something out of the ordinary was the giant beagle standing near the road. We just had to stop and get a picture. Then we had to stop for a longer period of time and talk to the owners. Dennis and Frances Sullivan had the beagle built as a bed and breakfast. Yes, you really can sleep there! (Check their website for details.) They're both artists. Dad bought one of the carved critters for sale in the gift shop (a buzzard), which he had shipped home so we didn't have to cart it around and try to pack it for the train.

The building has been featured in the book Buildings in Disguise: Architecture That Looks Like Animals, Food, and Other Things, by Joan Marie Arbogast.

Idaho, Part 4

Our destination on September 5th was City of Rocks, outside Declo, Idaho. (The official National Parks website is here.) We turned off the highway and took a back road to the south. The road got narrower, and finally we left pavement altogether.

City of Rocks has no admission fee. You just follow the road as it winds through fields and around massive rock structures. There are signs giving the rock formations' names, and some of the history of the area. (For example, part of the dirt road was an old stage coach route.) In 1843, City of Rocks became a landmark area for people traveling by wagon train to California. This was also part of the route to the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

We didn't stop much on this drive, so I'll just give you some pictures of the formations. There are a number of hiking trails and opportunities to rock-climb, but since I'm traveling with two senior citizens, I didn't take the time to do either.

We drove about 40 miles along this dirt road, which eventually swings around and heads back north, passing through Burley and back to the highway. We rejoined Route 84 and eventually left it again to head north to Hailey, Ketchum, and Sun Valley.

We stayed at the Airport Inn in Hailey, and finished off our evening driving through town to locate the local Roman Catholic Church and a gas station. We also did laundry. (Travel tip: take enough clothing for a week and do laundry at least once while you're traveling. Many hotels provide washers and dryers for a minimal fee, and you can get away with packing considerably fewer clothes.)

The following day it was north to Ketchum and Sun Valley. In 1935 and 1936, W. Averill Harriman, a lifelong skiing enthusiast, decided to open a ski resort similar to those found in Europe. The 1932 Olympics has proven the national popularity of skiing. Harriman asked Felix Schaffgotsch, an Austrian count, to travel the United States in search of a site for the resort. Schaffgotsch discovered Ketchum, a former mining town, and determined that it would be an ideal area.

Once the lodge was build and the skiing areas ready, Harriman invited celebrities to Sun Valley to promote it. Author Ernest Hemmingway was a frequent visitor. One hallway in the lodge is filled with black and white photos of celebrities who've visited, many several times. The picture above is of the main lodge. On the left is a shot of the main lobby. The picture on the right shows a pond in the middle of the little village of shops and restaurants around the corner from the lodge.

Idaho, Part 3

After spending the night at the Best Western in Idaho Falls, we set out with two destinations for the day: the Potato Museum in Blackfoot, and the Craters of the Moon National Park outside Arco. We missed our turn-off for Route 20 out to the national park, so we backtracked and ended up in Blackfoot first.

One of the first things people asked me when I told them I was going to Idaho was "What's in Idaho? Besides potatoes?" There's a good reason for that response; Idaho produces over 1/4 of the potatoes eaten in the United States.

The Potato Museum, at 130 North West Main Street, houses displays on the history of potatoes and potato farming, the standards for grading potatoes, and the development of new potato breeds. A room in the back holds some real life examples of farming equipment used in producing potatoes. By the way, the image above comes from the museum's website.

According to the displays, European explorers first found the natives of what is now Peru and Bolivia growing potatoes in the 1530s. It’s estimated that these people began cultivating potatoes around 2000 B.C. The picture at left is a set of miniature Peruvian farming implements. From Peru, the potato was taken to Spain, and from there it found its way to Portugal and Ireland, then to France, China and African, then to North America and Russia. Royalty grew the plant for its flowers, but soon creed that their subjects grow the potato as food.

It became especially well established in Ireland; the Potato Famine of the 1840s devastated the Irish population and caused a mass exodus to the United States. Potatoes in the US came from Ireland in the 1620s.

Most potatoes grown today are descended from the Russet Burbank potato, discovered and developed by botanist Luther Burbank in 1872.

Potatoes are usually grown in rotation with other crops, including wheat and barley. Once the other plants are harvested, the left-over parts are plowed back into the soil to provide nutrients. All farming was originally done by hand. By the turn of the 20th century, some equipment was horse-drawn, but much of the work was still done by hand. Today, most of the work is done by machines. At left is a horse-drawn planting machine. At right is a harvesting machine developed in the 1960s.

We grown certain varieties of potatoes for food, but “wild” potatoes are often used to breed new varieties with different characteristics, such as disease immunity. It takes about 15 years to breed and develop a new kind of potato.

Potatoes are graded according to shape, size, absence of damage, maturity, internal quality, cleanliness, and other qualities. #1 grade potatoes may be any size, but must be firm, mature (ripe), with firm skin, and so on. The picture here is of world’s biggest potato “crisp”, which is processed from dehydrated potatoes; a “chip” is sliced from a fresh potato and friend.

For the $3 adult admission ($2.50 for seniors and AAA members), visitors also receive a free box of dehydrated hashbrowns that can be eaten when you get home. There is also a nice little gift shop.

Our next destination was Craters of the Moon National Preserve, located outside Arco, Idaho. This park gives visitors access to miles of lava fields, either by car or on foot. Unfortunately, the day we were there they were paving the roads, so only the first 1200 yards of road was available. We made the most of it, though, by taking the .25-mile walk onto the lava beds and watching the movie at the Visitors' Center.

Park information states that there was volcanic activity in this area as late as 2,000 years ago. Unlike the usual view of volcanoes with a cone, the lava here is forced up through cracks in the ground.

Harold Sterns, a geologist, hiked across the lava beds back in 1923 with a friend. A dog named Teddy made the trip as well. Sterns' article on the area was published in National Geographic magazine in 1924, and that same year, US President Calvin Coolidge declared the area a national park.

Above, left, Mom and Dad read about the geology of the area. Above on the right is a picture of the lava texture at one point along the walkway. At left here are two tall columns of volcanic stone which are thought to be part of a volcano cone that was washed away during an eruption.


All that walking made everyone hungry, and since it was time to eat, we returned to Arco and stopped at Pickle's Place for dinner. Pickle's Place boasts its "Atomic Burger", named after the fact that Arco was the first town in the world to receive electricity from nuclear power. They also produce their own seasoning and we bought a jar to try when we got home. Out front they have a huge green rocking chair, which of course we had to try out.

We drove from Arco down to Poccatello to stay for the night.

Idaho, Part 2

And here we are at last! Our first views of Idaho are that of twisty, turning mountain roads as we make our way down Route 93. Pictures here are of the scenery along the way. As you can see, Idaho has its share of "Big Sky" moments as well.

















The road did snake off across the countryside. It reminded me of the poem "The Highwayman", in which Alfred Noyes writes of "the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor", although here it's fields of grass rather than a moor.















Our first stop in Idaho was at Yellowstone Bear World, outside the city of Rexburg. This is a game park that gives visitors a chance to see bears in their natural habitat. You drive through the park and the bears and other animals wander around outside your car.

I have mixed feelings about stuff like this. On the one hand, anything that educates people about animals and habitat is generally a good thing. It's also a chance to have people enclosed in a small area while watching the animals freely roam around outside. On the other hand, there seem to be a lot of bears in a relatively small area. I'm guessing that there are state and/or federal agencies that keep an eye on places like this to make sure the animals aren't being abused. But part of me really thinks the animals should be allowed to live out their lives in the wild. However, these bears are used to being around humans, and releasing them into the wild might result in them moving close to human habitation with the expectations that humans will feed them, and so on, which of course leads to a whole host of other problems.

At any rate, we had close encounters with several bears. I discovered my digital camera will produce film clips as well as pictures, so if I figure out a way to post one or two of those clips on here, I'll do so at a later date. In the meantime, though, I have some pictures for everyone's viewing enjoyment.

A number of other animals share the enclosure with the bears. Each area is penned off so the animals can co-exists in relative peace. At left are a small herd of deer; at right is a moose.

Just outside the park is a recreation area for visitors. Here you can see two enclosures which hold a group of bear cubs. The cubs have been removed from the main habitat because the male bears will kill them. The cubs are raised by the staff; visitors can sign up to help feed the cubs at various times.

Below are cub pictures:

The recreation area held a number of rides aimed at small children; the miniature train attracted my mother as well. As you can see, she and Dad had their turn on the ride. In the first picture, Mom boards the train, and in the second, Dad is seated in his car. I had a movie clip of this, too, but I think the batteries kind of died on that one.

Idaho, Part 1

Remember when I said I was going to post about our trip to Idaho? Well, I lied. Kind of. I'm actually going to start in New York State and talk a little about Montana, which is the state right next door to Idaho. Our trip this time started the evening of Saturday, August 30th.

As usual, we began by boarding the train in Syracuse and riding the rails to Chicago, where, after a two-hour layover, we picked up the Empire Builder and set out across the northern United States. Taking Amtrak is apparently becoming a popular travel option; our sleeping car attendant said the Empire Builder is pretty much booked solid until February of next year! With rising gasoline prices and airlines adding new fees, I can see why people would choose train travel. One of these days, when I'm in between vacation reports, I'm going to write up an entry on our Amtrak experiences, which have overall been positive. In the meantime, check out their website here.

We left the train in Shelby, Montana on Monday, September 1st. We had already called ahead and reserved a rental car, which we could pick up right at the train station. The first part of the journey was an easy 24-mile drive to Cut Bank, Montana, where we checked into the Glacier Gateway Plaza Motel. The rooms are clean and comfortable. Breakfast is included in our room rates. After a good night's sleep, we were off the next day to Hamilton, Montana, where our next hotel awaited us.

I'm including some pictures taken along the drive through Montana. You can see why the state's nickname is "Big Sky Country"!

Our drive took us through two places we've actually visited before: Bynum, which has a dinosaur museum, and Choteau, which has a small "town" consisting of a gift shop, museum, ice cream parlor, and other displays of local interest. The last time we stopped at the dinosaur museum, the fellow on duty in the display area talked to me for over 40 minutes about the Seismosaur skeleton, dinosaur eggs, and a host of other related topics. I'm not sure if he just didn't get a lot of adult visitors asking questions, or just didn't have a lot of women who seemed interested, or what, but I enjoyed the conversation. We didn't stop this time; I'll have to post the details of our two-week Montana trip at some point in the future.

After parking at the gift shop in Choteau, we walked across the street to Oasis Books, a bookstore connected to a grocery store that features all organically-made items. The bookstore specializes in first editions, and most of the books deal with topics of regional interest. The people running both stores were very friendly.

We stayed at the Best Western in Hamilton, Montana. Rooms again were clean, the bed comfortable, and the stay was very enjoyable.

After leaving Hamilton on the morning of September 3rd, we wound our way up into the Rocky Mountains until we reached the Continental Divide. As you probably know, this forms the two watersheds of the United States; all the water on one side of the Divide flows toward the Pacific Ocean, and the water on the other side flows toward the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. We stopped at the high point of the Lost Trail Pass, where explorer William Clark tried to cross the mountains as the Corps of Discovery expedition sought a way to the Pacific in 1805. (No one is sure of the exact campsite, but there is a rest stop here with information on the expedition.)

I will pick up with our trip into Idaho in the next post. Here I will leave you with the last look back into Montana from the Lost Trail Pass.

Welcome Aboard!

Greetings! I thought that before I started posting my information on the trip to Idaho, promised in the last post, I would introduce myself.

Most of the people reading this will likely be friends, relatives, or colleagues of mine (or any combination thereof), but if you're reading this and don't know me personally, welcome to my travel blog. As you can guess from the blog's title, I'm a librarian, in a mid-sized public library in southern upstate New York, and I travel frequently. You'll find pictures and comments from my trips. Since I'm a librarian, you will also find links embedded in my comments. Many of them will connect you to official sites for the place or idea listed, or they will at least take you to some place that has more information on the subject. You will also find occasional listings of local libraries and bookstores I visit on my trips, and sometimes even comments on related books (or whatever I happen to be reading at the time!).

I travel with my parents most of the time (my mother has the goal of touring all fifty United States before she's too old to travel any more), so you will see many of our journeys around the US. However, I do travel alone from time to time, so you'll see some of those trips posted as well. All our vacations tend to be both educational and entertaining. I will try to be as accurate as possible with the information I post here.

So, if you're interested in following along on our travels, and want to see some places and sights out of the ordinary, hop on board and come along for the ride!