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.