This morning, before leaving Boise, ID, I visited the Idaho Historical Museum. I had read that this was a great museum, and I wasn't disappointed. It IS a nice museum! Not the biggest, but it's filled with a lot of interesting things. There were informative exhibits on the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery, the Chinese during the Gold Rush, and the Peace Corps. The most unusual artifact there had to be the two-headed calf. The stuffed calf was donated to the museum by a farmer back in 1950, and it's been popular with visitors ever since.
I only had two other destinations for the day. Both of them were at out of the way places. The first was Minidoka National Historic Site in Jerome, ID. Unlike the more well-known Manzanar National Historic Site, this site only consisted of a few interpretive signs. Like Manzanar, Minidoka was also a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Americans of Japanese descent from Washington and Idaho were relocated here just because they...were Japanese. Minidoka has been listed as one of America's Most Endangered Historic Places. Now that's a shame. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
My other destination was Golden Spike National Historic Site in Utah. This park commemorates the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. It features authentic replicas of the two locomotives that met at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869...the Central Pacific's Jupiter and the Union Pacific No. 119. The trains only run during the summer months, but I was still able to see the beautiful engines stored in their barn.
Tomorrow, if the weather and conditions cooperate, I'll be doing some more hiking. Museums are nice, but I like to mix things up. And, I'm looking forward to a bit of excitement when I get to Vegas. Stay tuned.
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