Boise, Idaho

After we visited Craters of the Moon the other day, we traveled to Mackay, Idaho.

Based on the recommendation of our RV Park owner, we took the self-guided tour of the Mackay’s Hill Mine area.

Mackay is a fun little town with a quirky sense of humor…

That’s evident at the first sign we came across on the tour proclaiming the way to The Company Crapper.

The outhouse had room for eight. Yep, eight at one time. The posted sign says, “Not designed for comfort. The idea…just do what you have to do and back to work.”

No doors on the stalls probably helped speed things along.

There are a few exhibits to walk through and they are excellently displayed and labeled.

Not to mention the ambient lighting caused by hundreds of BBs…

From there were traveled up the mountain to view the mines, the ghost town, and spectacular scenery.

There was an amazing series of trestles that moved or carts up and down the mountain.

It was surprising to see how little vandalism there was. Some of the buildings still had tools in them–and there are no locks.
Of course, the buildings are nearly 100 years old, so there is some wear and tear.

And the view out over Mackay is lovely…

Boise, Idaho

During our drives around Arco, we saw some amazing scenery.

My favorite was the Big Lost River Valley. (This picture is hijacked…)

The Big Lost River is a large river that basically gets lost. It starts in the Pioneer Mountains, a subrange of the Rockies. It is 135 miles long, and its surface flow does not reach any other river. It disappears from the ground and vanishes into the Snake River Aquifer.

Some call the Pioneer Mountains the Idaho Rockies, and the name certainly fits. They are very pretty. (Another stolen photo…)

Borah Peak, the highest in Idaho, tops out at almost 13,000 feet.

The mountain range is long and has many valleys. Here is someone else’s photo of the Upper Pasherimoi Valley. Awesome.

The valley is home to multiple farms and ranches. It’s at about 5000 feet in elevation, so we guessed that the alfalfa tests high for protein content because of the shorter growing season.

King Mountain, which is close to Arco, attracts hang gliders. (Another hijacked photo.)

This is one area I’d love to come back to to explore some more.

Arco, Idaho

Yesterday we did some exploring around Arco. First stop was Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.

We’ve been living in Idaho over eight years, and we’ve never been to see them.

There are three major lava fields and sagebrush grasslands that encompass over 1100 square miles.

The lava fields lie along the Great Rift of Idaho–a line of cones and lava vents within the park.

This rift is considered to be the latest, deepest, and most recent in the continental US. Some of the rift cracks are the deepest on earth at 800 feet deep.

I won’t claim to completely understand what all that means, but I did learn lots at the visitor center. There are a series of calderas (think holes left after a volcanic eruption) that run along the Snake River Plain and on up into Yellowstone that have shaped the area and are expected to be active again within a couple hundred thousand years.

We were amazed at the diversity of the rocks and the vegetation in the park.

This small grey plant looks pretty against the black volcanic rock.

Many of the rocks are covered with colorful lichen.

I’m so glad we visited the park. It’s stunningly surreal.

Arco, Idaho

It’s always fascinating for me to find out more about places, especially when I didn’t think there was much to find out.

We’re in Arco for two nights to take a look at the Craters of the Moon National Monument. More about the Craters tomorrow.

Turns out that Arco was the first city in the world to be powered by nuclear reactor in 1955.

The Idaho National Laboratory, a federal research facility, resides on 890 square miles between Arco and Idaho Falls; it employs over 4000 people. Throughout its lifetime, over 50 one-of-a-kind nuclear reactors have been built and tested at the site.

While the INL employs many people, very few actually live in Arco. Arco’s population has steadily declined from a high of 1562 in 1960 to its current population of 995.

It’s really easy to see why this area was chosen. It’s barren for as far as the eye can see… It actually looks a lot like parts of Nevada.

We saw dozens of pronghorn. Only about one in five looked like it had been exposed to radiation.  (Ha ha. Just kidding. They all looked fine. )

We never did see the one local animal I really wanted to see: Pygmy Rabbits. They are native to the Great Basin and weigh just under a pound. My goodness, they are cute!

Two more Arco pictures. These are photos of Numbers Hill. Every year since 1919, high school seniors have painted their graduation year on the side of the hill.

Idaho Falls, Idaho

Idaho is well known for its potatoes, and we are definitely in Potato Country.

We watched some harvesting in Ashton the other day, and yesterday we watched some more in Idaho Falls.

We think that two tractors dig potatoes up as they go down the field with four untilled rows between them. They each cover about six rows, and they pile their harvest towards each other.

Then there is another larger tractor that digs the four rows that separated the tilling tractors. It then picks up the tilled potatoes from all sixteen rows.

This larger tractor has a conveyer belt that dumps the potatoes into dump trucks or semis.

We were astonished at how many potatoes were harvested for the amount of ground covered. The potatoes were at least six inches deep on the conveyor belt, and the tractor was moving s-l-o-w-l-y.

Most of the older farms still have potato sheds on their property.Potatoes,  potatoes,  potatoes as far as the eye can see.

Idaho Potato Fast Facts:

300,000 acres of potatoes are grown each year.

11 billion pounds of potatoes are harvested each year.

Those 11 billion pounds would fill 500 NFL football field stadiums.

Many schools close for two weeks for Fall Harvest so kids can help with the potato harvest.

Idaho grows about 1/3 of the total US fall potato harvest.

New York state uses the most Idaho potatoes.

Idaho’s rich volcanic soil,  cool nights, and warm days help make their potatoes the best.

We’ve tried these a couple of times in Homer, and they are quite good and microwave perfectly…

Ashton, Idaho

Mesa Falls Scenic Byway is a stunning 28 mile drive in south eastern Idaho. We’ve been on the drive several times, most often when we used to drive up to visit Richie when he was in college in Bozeman, Montana.

Yesterday was our first drive just past the peak fall colors period.

Here’s the map of the drive:

Originally the drive was a popular path to Yellowstone National Park.

It travels along the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. During the high early summer runoff, 2.5 billion gallons of water pass over the falls each day.

It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words. So here’s a short story. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves…

West Yellowstone, Montana

So far we’ve stayed in Homer in seven states: Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. By the end of the year, we plan to add two more: Utah and Arizona.

It has been interesting to see how different each of the states are in how and what they communicate.

What is our state about?

Each state has their own motto, nickname, and seal:

Arizona: Ditat deus (God enriches-Latin) * The Grand Canyon State

Idaho: Esto perpetual (Let it be perpetual perpetual-Latin) * The Gem State

Montana: Oro y plata (Gold and silver-Latin) * The Treasure State

North Dakota: Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable / Strength from the soil * The Peace Garden  State

Oregon: The Union and Alis volat propriis (She flies with her own wings-Latin) * The Beaver State

South Dakota: Under God the people rule * Mount Rushmore State

Utah: Industry * The Beehive State

Washington: Al-ki (By and by-Chinook) * The Evergreen State

Wyoming: Equal rights * The Equality or Cowboy State

My personal favorites?

Motto: Oregon — She flies with her own wings.

Nickname: Montana — The Treasure State

Seal: Montana 

How Can We Make Drivers Pay Attention?

Some states indicate automobile fatalities with a special sign. Here are Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming signs:

I’m curious to know if the markers help. For me, I was shocked how many there were at first. Then I became more and more curious about how the accident happened. But maybe that’s just me…

Cooke City, Montana

For wildlife lovers, the Lamar Valley is the closest thing to heaven on earth.

The valley is defined by the Lamar River which is a tributary of the Yellowstone River. The Lamar River is almost 40 miles long, and the road Yellowstone visitors use to cross the valley is about 20 miles by my uneducated guess.

During the fall, the majority of Yellowstone’s buffalo live in the Lamar Valley. Well over two-thirds of the 750+ buffalo we saw on one afternoon’s drive were in the valley.

While the herds are spectacular, for me there’s something very serene about one solo buffalo…

On our way to the valley, we were rewarded with views of nine mountain goats on the rock walls surrounding the road. They are hard to see with the naked eye, but patient glassing with binoculars paid off.

On the other side of the valley, we ran into some mountain sheep. Alas, only ewes. No rams. Not my best photo, but squint really hard and you’ll see the sheep near the center of the photo.

On our way back into the valley, we were surprised with a black bear sighting. Again, hard to see, but it’s my only proof that we really saw a bear. 🙂

Short back story here. . .

When Melissa was just about to enter junior high, her cousin Theresa told her that there’s only two words you need to know to get through junior high: “Fight! Fight! Fight!” and “Teacher! Teacher! Teacher!” You run towards the commotion during the “Fight!”, and you run away whenever anyone yells “Teacher!”

Apparently most of the visitors in Yellowstone learned the same thing…

Everyone stops with “Bear! Bear! Bear!”, and then they get way too close to the bear to get their pictures. Then when someone yells, “Ranger! Ranger! Ranger!”, they run away to the proper distance to be safe from a bear attack and try to look good in the ranger’s eyes.

Just love the slow pace along the roads in Yellowstone as the wildlife controls the pace of life….

Cody, Wyoming

We drove into Yellowstone yesterday and went through the east entrance to the park. We’d never been on that side of the park or on the road leading into it.

First we came across The Smith Mansion. (Not my photo.) The mansion is an unfinished house that a local engineer was in the process of building on his own for over a dozen years. Tragically, he fell to his death from one of the balconies. (Read more.)

The rocks in and around the Wapiti area are stunning in size, color, and design. Lots of towers, strategically balanced rocks, and cliffs.

Interestingly, we saw two lone bison bulls. One was about 20 miles from the park boundary, and the other was just inside the boundary but at least 20 miles from the other in park bison.

We went to a butte lookout to take a gander at Yellowstone Lake. It’s over 30 miles wide! And at nearly 7800′, it’s only unfrozen for five months out of the year.

At the Fishing Bridge visitor center, we saw a unique light fixture that both Rich and I liked. (That’s not the amazing part… 🙂 ) It was made with different types of sheds and skulls that were attached to a large metal hoop.

Our tour took us through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. With two large waterfalls and miles of stunning scenery, it’s my favorite non-wildlife area in the park.

Although this picture looks fake, it’s not. That’s how the image came through on my phone’s camera.

This picture looks like it’s sideways, but it’s actually showing the brink of the waterfall. We hiked 3/8 of a mile up and down 600′ to get to the brink. Well worth it…

And for those of us who love fall, a smattering of yellow fall foliage with the Yellowstone River in the background.