"A hell of a lot of state, this Idaho, that I didn't
know about." Ernest Hemingway as quoted by Lloyd Arnold in High on the
Wild with Hemingway.
There certainly is a lot
of Idaho and I was lucky to have been born here. We’re mixed up with Iowa and Ohio, great
places for sure, but they’re not my Idaho.
As I explain to my friends who’ve never been here, it’s the blank spot
between Wyoming and Oregon. Idaho has
everything from high mountain desert to a seaport. We have skiing—Sun Valley being the first ski
destination in the country, all manner of outdoor activities, and great dirt
for gardening.
Idaho also has a rich, but generally ignored, Old West
history ripe for fiction and I’ve set one series and several other books here
including the Hearts of Owyhee series. The
southwest corner, Owyhee County, is where I grew up. Now I live across the Snake River, but close
enough to see the beautiful Owyhee Mountains from my kitchen window. Makes doing dishes not quite the chore.
Looking down at Treasure Valley from the Owyhee Mountains near Silver City |
By the way, “Owyhee” is the original anglicized spelling of
“Hawaii,” and the name comes from three Hawaiian fur trappers who went missing
in this area in 1819. Owyhee County is
high mountain desert with 6 to 10 inches of precipitation annually. The average USA precipitation is 39 inches,
so yes, desert. In fact, the wagon
trains had quite a time getting through.
Oxen died, the country was rough, supplies were scarce, and water was
scarcer—this, after the weary immigrants had already traveled a brutal thousand
miles.
Geothermal water pops up here and there, though. When I was a kid, my idea of heaven on earth
was Givens Hot Springs. I love it so much that I wrote a scene in Much
Ado About Miners that takes place at Givens. It was always great fun when our 4-H club had
picnics there. Watermelon is sweeter,
for sure, and then after we got done spitting seeds at each other, we’d swim
for hours. What a blast! The Givens family has owned it for
generations, and if you’re ever in the area, stop by. You’ll be glad you did.
Another Owyhee County location I use frequently is Silver
City, Idaho, which is one of the few boom towns that didn’t burn, and still has
about 70 or so residents in the summer, 1 in the winter.
Silver has no electricity but the Idaho Hotel is open for
business, and owner Jerri Nelson makes the best pies in Idaho. It’s worth the trip just for a piece of
Jerri-Berry pie. You can check it out at
https://www.historicsilvercityidaho.com/. I hold a readers’ party there every year the
third weekend of July. Yes, we eat pie.
Present day Silver City, Idaho |
We have a great time at the readers’ event which features the
world’s worst melodrama, a charity auction for neurofibromatosis, historic
tours, trail rides, awesome music, visiting the old-fashioned way, a
multi-author booksigning, and more. If
you’d like to attend, you’ll find more information at http://www.camprogers.com/silvercityevent.html.
Honey Beaulieu won’t let any rustlers near Paul Nettleton’s herd! Paul is a fifth-generation Owyheean and lives in Silver City, where the Old West never died. |
Idaho has a bunch of wonderful museums. There’s the Oregon Trail museum in Montpelier
on the east side of the state, the Idaho Museum of Natural History in
Pocatello, the Idaho State Museum in Boise—all great places to visit. But to me, the most wonderful museums are the
small ones, small in size but huge on actual useful information. My husband and I visited the Owyhee County Museum
in Murphy, Idaho.
Owyhee County Museum Director Eriks Garsvo and Honey Beaulieu in front of Colonel Dewey’s ore cabinet |
Then it was time for lunch, and in Murphy, the county seat,
you have one choice. The Café, run by
friendly folks who serve delicious freshly cooked burgers.
Did I mention Owyhee County has one parking meter? It’s in front of the courthouse, and if you
park there and don’t put money in the meter, you will get a ticket. We have a
traffic light, too, but it’s only temporary while the new Marsing bridge is
being built. The light has only been
there a month but we’re ready for it to be gone.
---
Jacquie Rogers is author of the Will Rogers Gold Medallion
Award-winning series, Honey Beaulieu – Man Hunter, and the Laramie Award
Winning series, Hearts of Owyhee. She
grew up milking cows and hoeing beets in Owyhee County, Idaho, and was even
Homedale Fair Queen. Sign up for her newsletter, the Pickle Barrel Gazette, at
her website: http://www.jacquierogers.com
(scroll down).
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/jacquierogers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacquie_rogers/
Pickle Barrel Bar & Books on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/JacquieRogers/
(Info provided and released by author)
My brother and his family moved to Boise, Idaho when he was a young man. He made it his life long home. I've visited there many times because of my brother's move and got to see a number of the sights. I almost moved there a few years after he did. I interviewed for a job and the company was interested in me, but I ended up chickening out of moving there. I enjoyed this post.
ReplyDeleteLinda, give me a call next time you're in Boise and maybe we can meet up! That would be fun.
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DeleteAn informative and interesting feature about Idaho which I enjoyed greatly. What a special state with so much to see and do.
ReplyDeleteThere really is--a terrific vacation destination!
DeleteAs a kid (five and six years old) we lived in Idaho, first in Stanley, in the heart of the Sawtooth Mountains, and later in Sun Valley. I remember beautiful mountains, LOTS of snow and hot springs. Thanks for the great history snapshot!
ReplyDeleteMichele, what a wonderful place to grow up. I love the Sawtooths and set a western fantasy romance there. And who couldn't love Stanley? Awesome place.
DeleteOh, Jacquie, I could hear you talking. Isn't it wonderful to be so in love with a place. I feel that way about where I live. History, people and scenery...*Sigh* Doris
ReplyDeleteThat's just it--history, people, and scenery. I'm addicted. You need to come to Silver City. It's right up your alley! Besides, you're a hoot.
DeleteIdaho is the best kept secret in the USA. When my son said he was moving there, I said, "Where?" There's always something beautiful to see, from the mountains that always look black to the view across Boise to the Owyee and/or Boise Mtns. What an amazing drive up to Silver City. What great place to spend a day.
ReplyDeleteMy grandkids were born and raised in Star and Boise. I took many a plane trip out there, and even drove along Hwy 84 from SLC (otherwise known as death alley) for my son's wedding in the rose garden in Boise. Everywhere you look it's beautiful. Boise is a great little capitol city, and that's from someone who grew up in NYC. Thanks for the lovely blog.
Next time you're here, look me up! And please do come to the Silver City event in July. We have such a blast. Great for kids, too.
DeleteWhat a captivating and fascinating post about a scenic and wonderful state. To visit would be a dream come true for me. I look forward to enjoying vacationing there and this will be unforgettable.
ReplyDeleteThere are so very many areas I didn't even mention--the River of No Return, the Sawtooths, Henry's Lake, Craters of the Moon. We'll be going to a piece of the Oregon Trail this summer.
DeleteI love my Idahome
ReplyDeleteMe, too!
DeleteI was in Idaho for the first time this past September 2018. My husband, son, and I took a tour of the Western National Parks. We spent a lot of time driving through Idaho on the way from Salt Lake City to Grand Tetons, then from Grand Tetons to Yellowstone. Idaho is big and not very populated, at least the places we drove through. Very pretty. Lots of hay there. I bought some lottery tickets in a little town in Idaho. Lost the tickets. I'm convinced they were big winners. We liked Idaho and enjoyed driving through it.
ReplyDeleteNext time, head west! We'd love to have you visit.
DeleteThank you! I'd love to see more of your beautiful state.
DeleteI must get to Idaho! Jacquie, you make it sound like heaven.
ReplyDeleteYep, I've really settled my feathers here. The people are so friendly and in our area, the weather is a little better than other areas in our latitude.
DeleteA former classmate of mine lives in Boise, and since I've only been through Cour D'Alane while en route to Vancouver, we spoke at length about the beauty of your state. I wrote Class Reunion not long after our visit, and the heroine is from Boise. Back in 1997, when my sister married and we flew to Seattle, a woman in our row was returning to Tacoma, and she pointed out the Snake River from our window. Aptly named!
ReplyDeleteMolly, the whole Treasure Valley is pretty. Wine country, too. Just down the road from us you can buy Chicken Dinner Wine. Not kidding. https://hustonvineyards.com/wine-shop/#chicken-dinner Huston Vineyard is on Chicken Dinner Road.
DeleteSounds like fun, but anywhere you are, Jacquie, is a fun place.
ReplyDeleteCaroline, I could say the same for you! Come on up. I bet Mr R would even let Hero ride his tricycle. LOL
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