The Museum - From the Outside

There is a whole settlement at Fort Walla Walla.  The humidity around here has been, like, 18%, so I'm guessing the structures built in the late 1800's are still around and in pretty good shape for that reason.  The first one we happen onto is the blacksmith's shop.  (I actually think this one is new construction.  Shhh.)

Then the school, Union School, District 26, 1867.

They had a barbershop complete with one of the oldest barber chairs in the northwest, circa 1870.  It's out of an old Walla Walla barber shop on Alder Street.  You could get a shave and then, for an extra 25 cents, a bath!

They also had some personalized shaving mugs.  Granpa and I had just watched a TV show about antiques, and it showed some shaving mugs that were worth $20,000 now!

I could probably knock together the lil' one if I had to, the other one?  Not.  See the children seated at the table to the left?  They're school is just out of the picture.  Must have been too stuffy inside...

This woman is the poet laureate of the Baker City wagon train.  I asked if she'd send me a copy of the poem she wrote about their adventures, but I've not received anything yet.  If I ever do, I'll blog it for you.

At the livery stable we found two cool side-saddles:

The second one is a bit worse for the wear, eh?  But you see how one has two "horns" and the other only one.  I honestly believe a woman had to be a better rider than a man to stay on a horse at any speed with only one foot in the stirrup and trying to hold on to the horn(s) with her legs...

And speaking of stirrups...

I like the "platform."  I've never seen that before.  I have a small foot by today's standards: size 6 and very narrow.  But look at the size of that stirrup compared to my foot!  Even barefooted it would never fit!

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Fort Walla Walla, Washington

Just blocks from our home in Walla Walla is an expansive museum of old Fort Walla Walla.  The weekend we decided to check it out was very fortuitous:  a wagon train arrived overnight!

This train started in Baker City, Oregon and came through unpaved territory, literally over rocks and through rivers and the Blue Mountains.  They were on the trail two weeks and were completely authentic.  Seems these types of wagon trains are not unusual in this region in this day and age.  How awesome!

The completely authentic (not replica) wagons... (Fancy that! just about the same braking system we use on cars nowadays, huh?)

... were pulled by mules or horses

If you go back to our blog post, "In A Covered Wagon," from November of last year, you'll see that there were as many different makers of wagons then as we have car makers now.  They had different uses just as our car models have now, so they came in different widths and heights, and with different suspensions and braking systems. 

I'm certain that as improvements were made men, then as now, had to upgrade to the latest and greatest...

Only a few years ago men would "kick the tires" of a car before they bought it.  This originated back when the wooden wheels had an iron rim.  Men would kick the wheel to see if the rim was on good and tight.  Even today there are some who "kick the tires."

Pickup beds are getting so high off the ground nowadays that I'm considering getting a ladder just like they did back when beds HAD to have high ground clearance:

You might be wondering what the pole is on the side of the wagon.  When they needed super brakes, they would slide that pole through the spokes of two front or two rear wheels (or both) so that they would slide rather than roll down an embankment thus keeping the wagon from running over the horses.

Another rose from our patio.

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Our Homes Away From Home

Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii

Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii

The first Lihue, Hawaii housing was brand new and really nice - except for being hot and began with no air conditioning.  It was very "bare bones."  But, we can do anything for four weeks.

Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii

However, we were glad the four weeks in this apartment was up, and we were going back to Texas. SURPRISE!  As soon as we got back to Texas, Kauai called and wanted us back!  Our next housing - which we ended up in for almost a year - was much better.

 

Then it was on to Danville, Virginia and our farmhouse in the middle of a tobacco field with wildlife visiting daily - including a black bear one day!  (YES!)  This place is available for days or weekends, weeks or months.  You can get more information about this housing at healthier2morrow@gmail.com

There is a fully furnished, great kitchen, shower/bath, living room, den, high-speed internet, cable TV, all kinds of critters:  a resident ground hog, squirrels, rabbits, deer, wild turkey, (one bear), and more kinds of birds than I've ever seen in a single place swarming the bird feeder.

From Virginia we have come to Walla Walla, Washington.  It's like living in the Tyler Rose Garden!

And talk about fully furnished!  This is better cookware than I have at home!

Sitting on the patio we also have a view of the Blue Mountains.

So, housing is always a surprise, but they've always been good surprises for us.  The first two places were provided by our agencies; the last two places I found on line at Craig's List and VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner).  I've found that folks are willing to listen to the parameters our agencies give us to work by, and sometimes things are negotiable.

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The Wedding of the Year !!

Our youngest son, Christopher, just phoned this morning to tell us that HE GOT MARRIED !!!  Michelle is the most incredible lady, and she loves our son more than anyone on earth (but me, of course :-)  We could not be happier than we are at this very moment!

 CONGRATULATIONS KIDS!  WE LOVE YOU BOTH!  

MAY GOD BE WITH YOU EVERY SECOND FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES!  

AMEN AND AMEN!

Gold 'n Ghost Towns

Traveling down U.S. Highway 12 we pass within a few miles of Pierce, Idaho.

In 1860, a man by the name of Pierce snuck onto Nez Perce land (given to them by treaty - well, it was theirs to begin with - but you know what I mean...) in what is now northern Idaho and discovered GOLD on Orofino Creek!  He hustled on down here to Walla Walla, rounded up his buddies and went back onto the Reservation to establish the town of -- what else?  -- Pierce.

This started the largest gold rush in the northwest.  If you look at a map of what is now Idaho, and you locate all the gold mining interests, you'll see that they are literally spotted over the entire state.  Fun sounding places like the Lost Ranger Mine and Rabbit's Foot Mine and the Lost Turtle Mine are out there.  But, really now, how "fun" could those places be if, as I said in my last blog post, that Idaho is such a rugged place, even in the 21st century, that there are no paved roads through to many (most?) of these places.

There are, as a result of the "boom and bust" nature of gold rushes of the 1800's, as many ghost towns as there were mining locales: Bay Horse, Birch Creek, Cinnibar, Three Creek, Silver City...  Now, a mountain biker may find these places on a dream vacation - but ain't no way Granpa and I are gonna get a bicycle and pedal our way around Idaho.  (Tho' I DID dream the other night - for the second time since coming to Walla Walla - that we did rent bicycles... and the second time, well, I bought a lottery ticket!!  Our family will fall out of their chairs when they read that!  It was just a dream, kids.)

So, anyway, placer mining around Boise Basin began in 1862 and produced over 90 tons of gold making it the leading district, followed by the French Creek district at 31 tons. Lode deposit mining around Silver City comes in at 31 tons, too.  I was surprised (I'm often surprised :-) to find that there has even been over 14 tons of gold produced as a byproduct of silver mining!  Must be a bummer to discover gold and silver!!  That was in Coeur d'Alene in Shoshone County, Idaho.

Let's see.  31 tons @ 2,000 # per ton =  62,000 pounds x 16 ounces to the pound.  That's 992,000 ounces.  At today's price for gold ($1,614.70 an ounce) that's only $1,601,782,400 or just over 1 1/2 billion dollars since 1862-ish.  Over 150 years that averages out to about $10,678,550 a year.  I'd like to make $10 million a year...  That'd work!

Probably the only Idaho gold mines still producing are the Silver Strand and the Bond.

You might remember from our earlier blog in November of last year, that the first gold that caused a stir in the U.S. was back in 1799 on the Reed Farm in North Carolina.  Gold was discovered earlier than that (in 1782 in Virginia), but it wasn't "produced" from that find.  (I'm thinking the Native American Indians must have known about what we call gold, but they must not have been very impressed with it because we don't find references to it as we do with the Aztec.  Wonder shy?) 

Since they began recording gold production in the U.S., you can see how production has sky-rocketed in the last few years.  (Mining Engineer, May 2007)  That has to do with the increasing value of gold and the mechanics of getting at it nowadays.

Today the U.S. is the 4th largest gold-producing nation, behind Australia, South Africa, and China.  Most of that gold is coming out of Nevada.

Research also says that the U.S. is a  net exporter of gold.  WHAT !?!

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The Lolo Trail

Turns out, we couldn't get "here from there" because the River of No Return Wilderness Area and Sawtooth Mountains are in the way.  Seriously!  The Snake River and Hell's Canyon are in there, too.

So, we're tootlin' down U.S. Highway 12 through the Bitteroot National Forest, and the highway gets narrower and wind-e-er (more windy?) - gets lots of curves!  The trees get thicker and taller.  The scenery gets more awesome by the minute.

Turns out, we are on the trail of Lewis and Clark!  One of the Indian guides, a Shoshoni, led them through here.  Only making 10 - 12 miles a day they camped many several times on this route in September 1805.  It started out as a game trail that the deer and wolves, elk and goats made.  The Indian's picked up on it, then trappers, and finally horse and wagon traffic actually turned it into a road that we follow today.

This was known as the Lolo Trail and followed the ridges rather than the valleys because there were too many cliffs and gorges.  Now, critters eek out the path of least resistance which creates a LOT of switchbacks.  Lewis and Clark grew really weary of the meandering.  It puts me in mind of the Al-Can Highway (Alaska to Canada.  Now THAT'S a story worth getting to know!!)  But over the years, as improvements and repairs took place, the road has lost a lot of it's twist, turns, and hills.   The Lolo Trail hasn't enjoyed quite as many "straightenings."

On the far side, the hills begin to round out and the trees begin to thin out.  We're down beside the river coming off Lower Granite Lake out of Moscow (Idaho) now and meandering with the river.  We're just crossing into Washington state.

Turns out this is big wheat country.  In fact, thanks to wheat, Walla Walla once laid claim to having more millionaires than anywhere else in Washington!

In Texas, the fields are flat as a flitter.  I doubt our farmers would even have a clue as to how to lay out a crop on rolling hills like this.  Miles and miles and MILES of gorgeous wheat crops.  No fences as far as the eye can see.  Texas - because of the cattle and horses - has been fenced to a fair-thee-well.  In fact, in Texas they say good fences make good neighbors 'cause the fences keep the neighbor's cows outta your corn.

This is just too pretty!

The mountains you see in the background are the Blue Mountains.  I see them out our kitchen window and patio doors every day now.  I wish we were going to be here when the snow flies.  I'll bet it's just as pretty!

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Moving On to Walla Walla

Wel-l-l-l-l-ll, I can tell by the number of hits on the blog that it is time to move on.  There are so many more things I'd like to show y'all:  marmots, flora and fauna, ground squirrels, waterfalls, swimming holes, stagecoaches ... oo! oo!  I HAVE to show you this before moving on!

I've seen a LOT of dragonflies in my time - but never a ruby red dragonfly.  So cool!  And Granpa did a good job sneakin' up on this one...

Are you guys sure I need to move on ??

Okay.  So we get out the road atlas, put a finger on Yellowstone and a finger on Walla Walla, Washington and ... there is NO ROAD BETWEEN HERE AND THERE!  No.  Seriously.  You can't get there from here.  Sigh.

Alright.  We'll go out the west entrance to Yellowstone and head north into Montana.  We're familiar with this route.  There's a campground and cave just before the interstate.  It's called the Lewis and Clark Cave, but they admit Lewis and Clark probably didn't go through it.  They did travel on the river just below the cave though.  It's my kind of cave - primitive.  No cathedral lighting in there.  We're talkin' extension cords and drop lights!  There are places you have to "duck-walk" through and other places you have to sit down and slide on your behind.  Yuppers.  I love it.  Granpa, however, wouldn't go in there if his life depended on it.  He'd stay behind and guard the entrance, but die fighting to stay out of it.

Hello.  What's this?  

Is that a bump up there?  Is there a baby?

They're Osprey.  And here's the parent.  Mom?  Dad?  Regardless, LOOK AT THOSE CLAWS!  Yikesters!

Pretty cool.

We pick up Interstate 90 along about Bozeman, Montana and head west.  In Missoula we drop off and head down U.S. 12.  Now, we could have stayed on 90, cross the Idaho panhandle, and zip down to Kennewick.  But Interstates are no fun.  We like the scenic route if timing permits.  So, we're meandering down U.S. 12. 

There Are Buffalo -- And Then There Are BUFFALO

American Bison really are handsome animals - especially Yellowstone's!  Solid.  Patient.  Immovable!  They are the largest land animal still existing in North America.

These dudes are one of the largest wild "bovids" in the world.  

The Asian gaur:

and the wild Asian water buffalo:

are the only larger wild bovids.  A bovid is "any of a family of ruminants that have hollow, unbranched, permanently attached horns present in both sexes and that includes antelopes, oxen, sheep, and goats."  A ruminant is an animal that chews it's cud and has a complex 3- or 4-chambered stomach.


Okay.  End of school today.  Back to pictures of our roaming buffalo...

Seriously.  Wouldn't you get tired of the paparazzi from sun up to sun down, hounding you like a pack of hungry wolves?  Literally getting in your face...  Granpa and I didn't go looking for our animals.  If they were on the road, fair game.  But we didn't go hiking off into the wilderness. 

I suppose that's something everyone needs to know about vacationing:  You don't HAVE to go hiking to see amazing things.  If you can get in a car, you can see some wonderful stuff.  So, GO!  (And if you're 62 or over, get a Senior Pass at the National Park and get in for free for the rest of your life

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TB Skin Test in the Middle of Nowhere

Out of the clear blue we get an email from the agency we're traveling to Walla Walla for, and we are told that John has to have another skin test for tuberculosis.  Once they "scratch" you, two days later you have to go back to have it looked at for reaction.  Hello.  We're in the middle of Yellowstone National Park!  There aren't a lot of doctor's offices or hospitals here...

We could drive down to Jackson Hole, but that's an hour-plus down there and an hour-plus back.  Of course, to get it "read" we'd have to do that trek again...  I explain that to our agency and offer our willingness to do just that.  It would be a real bummer, taking a half day twice to get the deed accomplished, but we're willing.

It occurs to me, however, that there MUST be a clinic in the Park, and since Yellowstone is such an international tourist destination, I'd bet they have the ability to check for TB.  I suggest that to the agency.  They get back to us with an appointment time at the clinic at Old Faithful.  (Yea!)

It cost twice as much as if we'd gotten the TB skin test done at home or at a regular clinic, but without it being done - immediately - the facility we're headed for in Walla Walla will be very unhappy.  Our travel agency DID offer to pay half of the cost, which we thought was a really cool thing, and reimbursed us on John's first paycheck.  Good folks!

(And thank you, Katie O' at the Yellowstone Clinic, for organizing everything for us to get this accomplished!)

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Squirrely Waterfalls

This guy wasn't much bigger than a chipmunk.  He has his lil' house in the rock wall, came out to say hello, and then went off in search of some food to "squirrel" away for the winter.

 

If you look to the left of where Granpa is standing this is what you see.

 

Looking to the right...

Put a cowboy hat on this guy and you have a John Wayne look-alike!

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Buffalo Road

There are several places in Yellowstone that you KNOW you will encounter buffalo.  It's amazing to me that for YEARS we've been going to Yellowstone, and we know where these places are.  Why do  the buffalo keep coming to these places?  They should know WE are gonna be here; if I was a buffalo, I'd avoid those spots like the plague.  Do you think maybe the ENJOY causing buffalo jams?

Another good close-up!

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