Idaho

We have been gone for a week, which accounts for how quiet the blog has been. I scheduled my post about the pumpkins to post while I was gone—a meager effort to foil anyone who watches my blog in an effort to determine when I am out of town so they can come and carry away all our worldly goods. We came home to find the pitiful pumpkins rotten and collapsed in upon themselves. Too much rain while we were gone I think.

I was glad I scheduled the pumpkin post and wished I had scheduled it to pop up earlier. Every time I looked at my blog on my phone there was that "horrible" post staring me in the face. Not something I want to keep thinking about. Thanks, Rayna, for saying what I would have said about the comment urging forgiveness for such a heinous act. I don't think so.

On to something happier— 

We went to visit our family and friends in Idaho. We traveled in tandem with our daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren, 3.5 years and 2.5 months. Both were great travelers and welcomed warmly by our Idaho kin. The weather varied from warm and sunny to cold and rainy with a bit of snow thrown in, but all in all it was a beautiful trip and a whole lot of fun. The photo, above, was taken at a rest stop in the Columbia Gorge and gives you some idea of what a lot of the trip looked like.

Idaho gets such a bad rap and it is really such a beautiful state. Yeah, the politics can be little bizarre, but the two largest counties voted Democrat in the last election, which is not unlike Oregon, which has a much more liberal, progressive reputation. And then there are those famous Neo-Nazis in Idaho. From Wikipedia:

"A common misconception is that Idaho is somehow a racist or Neo-Nazi state. Around 1980, a Neo-Nazi and white separatist brought a band of followers to Hayden Lake near Coeur d'Alene and began regularly making the local and national news with his racist provocations. Although the local residents vigorously disapproved and regularly held much bigger counter-demonstrations, the Neo-Nazi image has stuck. Idahoans breathed a collective sigh of relief in 2001 when the 20 acre compound owned by the "church" was handed over to a woman who had filed a lawsuit against them after being assaulted by their guards, and many of the racists left the state."

So, if you always thought of Idaho just being about potatoes and weirdos, you missed the good parts.

We spent several days in Pocatello with my brother and his family. One day we took the kids to the park and the little zoo, which sits nestled against the lava cliffs, remnants of ancient volcanic activity in the area. When I was a child the zoo was pretty pathetic, with two or three caged, mangy buffalo and some deer. It has been greatly improved, with many more native animals added and large areas for the buffalo to roam and the deer and the antelope to play... (sorry—got carried away)

The zoo was decorated for Halloween and that day they were having a special day for kids, with games and activities and candy. Sofia had a blast.

Porcupine.

Big horn sheep.

Uncaged, wandering peacock.

After a couple days of riding in the car, the walk through the park and the zoo felt great. It was a beautiful fall day and then it started  to rain a little and we hurried back to the house and helped my sister-in-law whomp up a great dinner. (That's how you fix a meal in Idaho, BTW—you "whomp" it up) Emily and her cousin Jessica whomped up two of the best pies I have ever eaten, reassuring the older generation that we raised those girls with the right values! Then we drifted off to sleep to the faraway sounds of the trains in the switching yards. Home.