July already?? What happened to June? It’s been 7 months since we retired and 5 ½ since we hit the road full time. Boy, has the time flown! Sorry we’ve been so long in posting, but we’ve been without good WiFi connectivity recently.
We’re in Idaho now. We entered the state with no expectations beyond cattle ranches and potato farms. Heinz had been in the state briefly over 20 years ago, but I’ve never been here before. In short, we have been blown away by the place. We entered the state from Utah, traveling through the high desert region up to Mountain Home AFB outside Mountain Home, ID.
The FamCamp at Mountain Home is small with only 22 spots, but the setting was serene and the camp quiet and never completely full. There are loads of large, mature trees, green grass, and a cool breeze every evening. I have to admit that it’s nice staying on military bases and hearing the Star Spangled Banner played every afternoon and Taps at night, although I wouldn’t complain if Reveille was played just a little later in the morning. This base wasn't too bad though, the jets didn't start flying at 0600 and keep going until 2100 like they did down at Hill AFB.
The camp hosts at Mountain Home are in their mid/late 80’s and have been full-time RVing for the past 20 or so years after living full-time on a sailboat for the prior 10 years. They are truly a stirring example of how to live life to the fullest. They have been camp hosts for the summer season at the base for the past 12 years and spend their winters traveling internationally. They choose a different place in the world to visit each winter. In a casual conversation about how to enjoy retirement they mentioned at least 20 countries that they’ve visited over the years. What inspiration!
Don (on left), 87 y/o camp host for Mountain Home FamCamp
Over the past few days we leisurely explored the local area and quickly put Idaho on our “gotta come back here” list. Just a few quick facts about the state: entire state population is 1.5 million (New York City-8.3 million), number of people per square mile-18.9 (US average-87.3), the largest city and state capital, Boise, has 190,000 residents, there are 3,100 miles of rivers in the state and 65% of the landmass is National Forest with another 5% state parks. After 1½ weeks in the state I have yet to see a potato farm!
We took a day and drove up to the Sawtooth National Forest. The best-known towns in the area are Ketchum and Sun Valley. The drive up to Ketchum was pretty, lots of cattle grazing and green foothills. The valleys are surrounded by mountain ranges, the Boulder, Sawtooth, White Cloud, Smoky and Pioneer.
Foothills leading up to Ketchum
Ketchum is a pretty little town with lots of new house construction in the area, mostly ski resort type places. We ate dinner there at the Ketchum Grill…grilled Idaho trout and elk steak. Yummy!
Idaho Trout with Black Bean and Corn Salsa and Elk Steaks with Tomato Tapenade
We kept driving north out of Ketchum into the Sawtooth National Forest, which includes the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The Area is said to have the cleanest air in the entire US - we believe it. When you stop and take a stroll along a trailhead all you can smell is the pine forest. It also is home to the longest salmon migration in the continental US…900 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the headwaters of the Snake River.
Sawtooth Mountain Range and the National Forest north of Ketchum
We drove along the Salmon River from Ketchum to the town of Stanley at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains. Actually, Stanley is more of a collection of rafting and other outdoor adventure companies, a hotel, and a couple of restaurants than a true town. But what a view from the edge of town!
View from the north end of Stanley looking up the Salmon River
Along the way, we stopped at the Sawtooth Hatchery to check out their operations. It was a first time at a fish hatchery for both of us. According to our very knowledgeable summer intern guide, the hatcheries in Washington and Idaho were built and are funded by electric companies that built eight dams on the lower 150 miles of the Snake River. This was the deal that the federal government worked out with them in an attempt to decrease the impact of the dams on the salmon population.
The Sawtooth Hatchery is devoted to collecting and hatching Chinook salmon eggs and collecting steelhead eggs for transport to two other Idaho hatcheries. The hatchery collects the eggs as the adult salmon spawn, incubates them, then keeps the young fry for about 18 months before releasing them into the river to begin their 900 mile journey down to the Pacific Ocean. At any given time the hatchery has around 200,000 Chinook fingerlings. Once released, only about 10% of these will actually make it back to the ocean. The rest will die due to drought, disease, predation, and hydroelectric power facilities (the fish get stuck in the reservoirs or can’t make it past the dams). Amazingly, they make the journey tail-first! As they near the ocean they undergo physiological changes that change them from a fresh-water fish to a salt-water fish.
Chinook salmon fingerlings in outside runs. These little guys will be released in about a year.
After two years in the Pacific on average, the fish suddenly decide it’s time to go back home and spawn. So, off they go to the mouth of the Columbia River to head upstream to wherever their birth river lies. The biologists think they find their way home by smell, each river tributary apparently smelling slightly different. The fish quit eating when they enter the Columbia and can lose up to 50% of their initial body weight getting home, a journey of 2-3 months! So that 30 lb. salmon caught in Idaho may have started its journey as a 60 lb. fish. Only around 0.5% of those 200,000 released from the hatchery will make it back to the Snake or Salmon Rivers to spawn. Once they spawn, the fish die 1 to 3 days later. Imagine, a journey of 900 miles to lay/fertilize eggs as your last act on earth.
We also spent a full day up in Boise looking around. We started out at the Capital City Farmer’s Market. The market has local produce, herbs, flowers, specialty foods like elk, lamb and cheese, baked goods, wines, and local artwork for sale. We got some really tasty tarts-peach/raspberry and rhubarb, nice new potatoes and cabbage, along with local wildflower honey and a jar of salsa verde that packs a punch. Heinz also introduced me to my first beef stick. If you’ve never had one, it’s kind of like a spicy dried beef summer sausage, actually, it was pretty tasty. I definitely recommend you try one.
After the market, we drove around town a while looking at the neighborhoods. There is a really nice historic district close to downtown Boise that is filled with Craftsman and Victorian style homes. Almost all of them had huge trees and front yards filled with flowers. Quite a few of them also had small vegetable gardens in the area between the street and the sidewalk.
Then we wandered over to the Old Idaho Penitentiary and Botanical Gardens. I know, I know, what a combination. But the Botanical Gardens are located in the area that was previously the vegetable garden for the penitentiary. The Gardens were lovely, 50 acres planted into 13 specialty gardens. There was lots of shade and a cool breeze that came in handy as it was rapidly turning HOT…96 degrees.
What a shame they didn't allow swimming!
After strolling around the gardens for a while, we wandered next door to the penitentiary. It was built in 1872 and finally closed as an active prison in 1973. The prison housed both male and female prisoners, although there were never more than about 15 females housed there at any one time. However, there was not a separate Women’s Ward until 1905. Before then the women were housed on the top floor of one of the cell houses.
Outer wall of the penitentiary, built 1872.
Cell House # 1, women were housed on the 4th level.
We spent the Fourth of July close to home. Everyone staying at the FamCamp got together for a potluck BBQ. Heinz made some great salsa (actually more of a pico de gallo consistency) from a recipe he found and tweaked. Several people at the cookout asked for the recipe, so we’ve included it at the end of today’s blog entry, in case any of you are interested. Along with lots of good food and mostly travel-related conversation, we were treated to a bagpipe concert by one of the campers.
Sandy entertaining us on the 4th of July
If you're enjoying the pictures of Idaho, this is the link to our collection so far on Photobucket. We'll be adding more as we move north through the state.
We’ve now made it up to Grangeville, ID, so more on this area on our next blog.
In the meantime, here’s our friends of the day followed by that great salsa recipe.
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Recipe of the Day:
Tomato-Mango Salsa
Yield: about 2 ½ cups
2 cups seeded, chopped tomatoes
1-2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 Anaheim pepper, stemmed and diced
¼ cup red onion, diced small
1/2 cup mango, diced small
2 garlic cloves, minced
¾ tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup minced cilantro leaves
Dice all vegetables – make them all the same size. Recipe calls for ½ cup of mango, but we added more till we got the sweeter flavor we like. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste – it took more than we thought. Refrigerate for an hour or longer, turning the mixture periodically to meld the flavors.
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