The first few miles look pretty much like Eastern Oregon, but the land seems to rise somewhat up towards Boise. After a while I took off north on US20 towards Sun Valley. I had three reasons - firstly I wanted to see a bit more of the state than just the highway, secondly it was on the way to Craters of the Moon National Park, and thirdly the Blaine County Museum in Hailey was marked as interesting on my old road map.
Heading north the scenery became slightly better, with greener grass and a hint of proper mountains (meaning mountains showing actual, bare ROCK, not that short-grassed, shrubinfested pale imitation of a mountain you often get in these parts). I never went as far as Sun Valley itself, but I've heard it's nice and I have no reason to doubt it; things were getting prettier by the mile as I drove north. The one thing about Idaho though is that almost as soon as you get off the freeway, there's hardly a car, a house or a human being to be seen. You have this vast emptiness almost to yourself. Sadly, it gets old very fast.
The drive had already been long and tedious, and I really had no expectations for Blaine County Museum. To be honest I was beginning to think this had been a worthless detour and that I should have stuck to the Interstate. But when I entered... HALLELUJAH! This tiny museum held the collections of one Joe Fuld, the first president of the American Political Items Collectors Association. There were HUNDREDS of political items - campaign buttons, banners, stickers, posters, all kinds of memoriabilia. I am not just obsessed with US history and politics, I am also a collector of buttons, so you can imagine my joy when I saw this exhibit. I spent a good hour in that litte house, most of it with my snotty nose and clammy little hands pressed against the glass. For the more sane of you, the museum also has a few more "normal" displays with lots of fun artifacts from days of yore. I also had a long, deliciously rambling talk with the elderly lady behind the counter.
On the way to Craters of the Moon I passed through Picabo, a tiny place that has lent its name to Picabo Street - former US alpine racer and a well known name to Norwegians after her silver medal at Lillehammer in '94. I was too slow to get up my camera and take a picture of the sign that said "Entering Picabo", from which I would have invited dirty puns from you readers... As there was construction work for miles before and after I couldn't be bothered to turn around and though I looked for a similar sign in the opposite direction, I saw none. I then pushed on to Craters, which didn't look anything like a lunar landscape at all to me, so I stopped only to take advantage of their bathroom facilities before driving on, ever more desperate to get out of the desolate wasteland that is rural Idaho.
Now I'm finally in Pocatello, which has at least some semblance of civilization. Tomorrow I'm driving into Wyoming (state 47) and up the Grand Tetons National Park and into Yellowstone. I should hit Cody before dark, it'll then be my base for two days of exploring. I may be without internet access there, so the next update could come as late as Friday (or Saturday morning Norwegian time) when I arrive in Billings, Montana (state 48).
HOURS of this. Argh.
A mural on the wall of the Blaine County Museum.
Political memorabilia... droooool!
A Buffalo horn chair from the mid 1800s.
A classroom and a kitchen display.
Craters of the moon, my ass. Slag heap, more like it.
The tiny town of Arco is historical - in 1955 it became the first US city to be lit by nuclear energy. My personal guess is they felt the whole state was expendable, should things go wrong. The painted hillside is a local tradition - every year since 1920 the high school graduation class has painted "its" year on it.
And then another good hour of this... *sob*
All Idaho pics here.
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