Saturday, July 28, 2007

Idaho

Today we are at my brother's house in Pocatello, Idaho, where I grew up.

Do you know where Idaho is? A lot of people don't seem to. Idaho is not Iowa. Idaho is not Indiana. Idaho is not Ohio. Idaho is not in the Midwest. It is nowhere near Des Moines or Sioux City. Idaho is in the Northwest, right next door to Oregon and Washington. It is where the world's best potatos are grown. It is the state with more federal wilderness area than any other. It is the state of beautiful mountains and great skiing (Sun Valley!) and the wild and scenic Salmon River and the Craters of the Moon and the Snake River Canyon. There are a few crackpot white supremacists holed up near the Canadian border who have done their best to give all of Idaho a bad reputation, but pay no attention to them. Idaho is filled with a lot of good people, some of whom we are related to.


This is where we are headed. That is the Palisades Dam you see near the bottom of the photo and behind it the Palisades Reservoir on the Snake River. The river was dammed and the lake created in the 1950's to create irrigation water reserves for the farms downriver (potatoes, don't you know!). That was when my parents decided we needed a family project and leased forest land, overlooking the new lake, on which to build a cabin. The cabin is just to the right of the photo, just about where you see the first little finger of the lake poking out. The lake is deep and cold and beautiful and is 22 miles long, extending into Wyoming. Those mountains you see in the distance are in Wyoming. Just over the mountains, to the left, are the Tetons and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. To me, this is a very special and wonderful little corner of the world. I hope I can show you around the place in the next week.

9 comments:

  1. Now you have made me homesick. I loved going to 4-H camp near there. I loved going on a long Sunday afternoon drive to the area. If you happen to go to Jenny Lake be sure to post some phots.

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  2. I love Pocatello and I know where it is. I worked for a month there for a cellphone company. When I was not working I was driving all around seeing the sights. I would go back in a heart beat.

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  3. Look forward to seeing your photos, Terry. Enjoy your stay!

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  4. sigh. it is so beautiful. I miss the northwest.

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  5. Ahh, that's beautiful. I love Idaho, we would have moved there if we could have afforded some land there, land prices were going crazy when we were out there several years ago. Love to travel there again, though, it's a great place to see.

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  6. Beautiful country! How lovely. And a good 'reminder' geopraphy lesson.

    Remember when the state of New Mexico added USA to their license plates? It is astounding the blanks that people (uh hum, sometimes ME) have in their knowledge base!

    Thanks for the gorgeous photo.

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  7. Can't wait to see your photos and hear about your trip. As someone who is in a state sandwiched between Iowa and Indiana -- I'm well aware that Idaho is much further west!! Enjoy.

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  8. What an incredibly lovely spot. And thanks for the geography lesson; I didn't have a clear sense of where Idaho was, either until I moved right-next-door.

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  9. I have a cabin just to the left in Maple Grove estates. Every day I spend there is a day where I have no worries and can add to the length of my life.

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