Saturday, June 9
Those of you who have “traveled” with us before may remember when Greg and I purchased our first RV, Winnie. We set a goal of visiting all of the lower 48 states before Audrey turns 18. There’s no way to experience absolutely everything a state has to offer, so we decided that in order to check a state off of our list, we had to meet two criteria: spend the night in the state in the RV, and see something of note. What we choose to see can be anything from internationally famous landmarks, to obscure items found on Roadside America (like balls of twine, giant nickels, and green bulldogs). We’ve been doing pretty well. As we wind down our exploration of the Pacific Northwest, we chose to stop through two more states, Idaho and Utah.
Having missed Alcatraz, we stopped to tour the Old Idaho Penitentiary in Boise, ID. Started as a territory prison in the 1800’s, it is a fascinating group of buildings in use until 1973, and also considered as one of the 10 most haunted places. Looking at the cells, it’s hard to imagine them being in use until 1973. The heat (a couple of radiators in each of the 3 story buildings) would have been almost non-existent, in my humble opinion. Our tour guide confirmed in Boise it gets both very, very hot in the summer, and very, very cold in the winter. Those cells—built with 2-4 inmates in mind, often housed 4-6. If you see the picture of Building 1 with our four inside the cell, that is a 2 person that often housed 4. No indoor plumbing in that one. Prisoners received a honey bucket that stayed in a hole in the ventilation shaft to each cell. Prisoners ranged in age and crime throughout the history of the prison—from 6 to 80 years old, and from stealing food to rapists and murderers. 10 executions took place there by hanging. Raymond Snowden, Idaho’s Jack the Ripper, may be one of the most well known. While he was only convicted of a singular murder, it was quite a graphic one with a cut throat, severing of the spinal cord, and 27-30 stab wounds. Details vary, but our guide alluded to dismemberment and cannibalism, as well. Like I said, quite a range of criminal activity throughout those years. During Raymond’s hanging, the rope was not properly prepared and Raymond actually strangled for 15 minutes until his death. Reportedly, Rob Lowe filmed an episode of his reality show on the paranormal there. If I understood correctly, he spent about an hour inside one of the 4’x4’x4’ solitary confinement boxes, didn’t feel any ghostly activity, and declared the penitentiary not haunted. Our tour guide has experienced Raymond herself, and she’s there a lot more. As for our visit, no ghostly encounters for us, so you can make your own decision if you visit the old Idaho State Penitentiary.
Moving on in the afternoon, we drove to Ririe, ID to spend the night. Along the way, we dove past a wildfire. We were plenty safe, and it must have been contained, as I couldn’t spot any crews out there. Fire is a powerful thing. I tried to locate some information about the fire from the all knowing Google, but couldn’t find anything specific. Ririe, is quite a scenic area, not at all far from the Wyoming boarder. Next to the Snake River, the town seems to draw visitors interested in hiking and river activities. The river was quite high and swift, so water activities would not have been on our agenda, even if we were staying longer. Surrounded by mountains—the towering rocky kind unlike the mountains in the Pacific Northwest that I think of more as being covered with an evergreen carpet—I would explore this area more if we had time. But that’s not this trip. For dinner, we found Big Jud’s, notable for both it’s 1 lb. and 2 lb. burger challenge. Adam Richman was here for an episode of Man v. Food. I’m not gonna judge, but he only did the 1 lb. challenge… Regular burgers for us, and then a good night’s sleep.
Sunday, June 10
Sunday was our last official full day of vacation. Greg dropped Elizabeth off at the airport in Idaho Falls so she would be ready for work in Atlanta on Monday. When he returned, we hooked up and continued our drive through Idaho, stopping for a side visit at Lava Hot Falls to experience the hot springs. These are natural hot springs, mineral, no sulphur or chlorine. Mother Nature cycles about 2 ½ million gallons of water through the springs each day, and the 5 pools in our area range (again, naturally) in temperature from 112 degrees (highest point) to 102 degrees (lowest point). 112 degrees is HOT water, but was Greg and Ryan’s favorite pool to soak (and boil) in. I think I like the 110. Two degrees does make a difference! The gravel bottoms were interesting. I like how they felt on my feet, but if you move the gravel around it’s hot underneath. You can also see little bubbles coming up from the bottom around the pools (and no, they weren’t manmade bubbles). I’m glad we stopped. Another first time experience for me, and one I’d do again.
Back to our RV to finish our drive into our last vacation state, Utah. Our destination? Salt Lake City. Now I hadn’t connected the dots to put together that Sundays are really, really quiet in Salt Lake City due to the large Mormon population. Salt Lake is the 'Chik-Fil-A' of US cities, it is closed on Sunday. We did manage to find a restaurant that was open, and the lack of traffic made it pretty easy to dive through the city and get a feel for the area. Audrey noted that this city was better because it wasn’t crowded. I’m pretty sure that changes during the work week. Anyway, we drove through downtown, and then out to see the great Salt Lake. The sun was going down, so we couldn’t get out and touch the water. One last thing on the to do list before we go to the airport in the morning.
Monday, June 11
Since we couldn’t touch the Salt Lake yesterday, we put the suitcases in the truck and drove out there this morning. The verdict of our short visit? Perhaps we should have left it with the nighttime viewing. Now, if you are out on the water in the middle of the Salt Lake, I imagine you may be able to enjoy the sailing, jet boats, and dining on the water experiences mentioned in the tour books. However, viewing the Salt Lake from the state park has got to be one of the nastiest experiences we’ve ever done. The water level was very low today. When you get out of the car, you are slapped with a foul odor, part salt, but with something like rot permeating with it. Not faint of heart, we pressed on over the land down to the edge of the water. Here we were met with millions (NOT exaggerating, possibly more) of tiny brown insects covering every inch of ground along every inch water. Ok, perseverance, holding our breath, we stepped through the bugs and touched the water (gotta mark off Utah…), one fingertip each. Done.
Concerned (not really) that we had probably just picked up some fatal parasites that would need treatments via a series of shots, we went into the visitor’s center. Greg asked the important questions. Is the water low? Yes. Does anything live in the Salt Lake? Yes, brine shrimp (sea monkeys to the rest of us). What are all those insects? Brine flies. Brine flies lay their eggs along the surface of the water all along the edge of the Salt Lake. Why? Because when the eggs hatch the larva can easily gorge themselves on the decaying biomatter all around the Salt Lake. “Digest” that thought for a moment. Look at the pictures. There is no sand around the Salt Lake. Just decaying biomatter—brine shrimp and brine fly carcasses. So, with some squirts of air freshener, and some sanitizer on our shoes. Ryan, Gillian, Audrey and I are off to the airport. Greg will drive our RV home, and we’ll be together again on Wednesday.
See you in Nashville!
