Well, I guess we had our last day trip yesterday. We have had a good time here in Idaho. We got to see our friends and that made the stay here perfect. Sunday, Kim & Debbie Jenkins came over after church and we visited them, went to Appleby’s for lunch and visited more. We came back to the campground and visited more then they had to go home. It just seemed like the time fly by when we were with them.
Tuesday, we drove to Inkom, Idaho to Steve and Karen Myler’s home. We got there at around 9:30 am and we got to see their remodel on their kitchen and all I can say is it is so beautiful. We loved it. Then we visited and laughed and visited more until Karen said it was 2:00 and she was getting hungry. My gosh I would have never guessed it was that time. So we all got up and we drove to Sizzler in Pocatello for lunch/supper. Visited and talked and ate, then I needed to go to Costco so we went there. I again had to drive one of the electric buggies and after Steve and Karen knew about my episode in Walmart they gave me lots of room but I must say, I have become a very good buggy driver. lol lol Then we came back to the campground and visited some more. It got really dark and the wind started blowing really hard so Steve helped Curt get things outside put up before we had to say our good byes. Our neighbor had a tent up with their bikes and lawn chairs and a table in it and the next thing we knew, it was uprooted and against or 5th wheel. The wind was really wicked for a little while but it died down and the Myler’s left. As soon as Kim and Debbie left I was missing them and the same with Steve and Karen. They no more got in the car to leave that I was already missing them. All 4 of them are such good friends to us. But we will see them again on our travels.
Wednesday, Curt and I left and drove about 15 miles north to Blackfoot and went to the Potato Museum. It was pretty interesting. I don’t think either one of us was that excited to go but didn’t want to wonder what it was like so off we went. Now we can both say we are so happy we went. So now I can show pictures and give you all some really fun facts about Potatoes. lol
This is really an interesting read how years ago pioneers made the race to claim the land.
The Indians called this tool a Chakitajlla. This too was the most advanced tool known in the Andes until the 15th century. The foot plow is a legacy of the Inca still in use today.
Idaho’s short summers with hot days and cool nights are best suited for growing potatoes. The wind blown volcanic soils of the Snake River Valley are especially suited for potatoes. Potatoes grow better in a light soil, like volcanic ash which has a rich supply of trace minerals. Idaho receives less than 9″ of rainfall yearly. Most of the water comes from the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer.
Below are all different kinds of potatoes nails used to bake potatoes with. I had no idea there were so many different kind.
Here are some fun facts:
300,000 acres of potatoes are harvested per year. That is about 13 billion lbs of potatoes.
It would take 393,779,549 – 4″ French fries to go end to end around the earth equator.
You get approximately 36 French fries to 1 potato
The Potato belongs to the same group as Tomatoes, Tobacco, Chili Peppers, Eggplants and the Petunia.
The average American eats 142.7 lbs of potatoes each year. 48.1 lbs fresh potatoes, 58.9 lbs frozen French fries, Hashbrowns, etc; 16 lbs Potato Chips (unless you are my sister, then you can double that amount, lol); 18 lbs Dehydrated, mashed potato flakes, au gratin mix, etc.; 1.7 lb canned.
Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for introducing French fries to America when he served them at a White House Dinner. It is said that John Adams thought Jefferson was putting on airs by serving “such novelties” lol lol
The Potato is the only vegetable that grows in the desert as well as in the mountains above 14,000 feet.
82% of people world wide associate potatoes with Idaho. No other growing area has greater name recognition than Idaho Potatoes.
The earliest know potatoes were discovered in the night. The earliest such remains of potatoes date to 400 B.C.
below is a tale about the Potato God. If you can’t read it, enlarge the picture.
OMGOSH I never knew there were so many types of peelers.
This is the largest potato chip in the world book of Guinness records. The chip was made by a team of food engineers June 3, 1991. The chip measured 25 x 14″ and weighed 5.4 oz. It contains 920 calories, the equivalent of 80 regular Pringle’s potato chips
Potatoes also make up vodka.
One of the first cans of dehydrated potatoes.
How would you like to wear this outfit. I would think it would be quite scratchy.
Below is the different kinds of Potatoes
The first shipper of potatoes.
A couple more fun facts:
In one of the rooms, there were 2 swival stools and over them hung a thing to pull down and put over your eyes, kind of like binoculars. Well, I asked Curt if he was going to do it and he said no….well, I was. So I sat down and pull the binocular like things to my eyes and all of a sudden, it was 3D and I was in a big combine with a strange man and I was helping harvest the potatoes. I swiveled my stool and I could see behind the combine and I turned more and I could see all the potatoes going through the sorter and then up into the semi. Oh it was so cool and I was saying all this out loud as I was watching and turning around on the stool and when it was over, I watched it again and it was just as cool as the first time. When it was over, I took the binoculars off, stood up and Curt was sitting on the other swivel stool watching. hahaha. I am sure I was making it sound so exciting, so he had to see what all the commotion was about. hahaha. Oh that man of mine. lol
Below is what they called the potato sorter
A more sophisticated potato sorter.
Potato picking belt
Below is a potato sack sewing machine
Two different potato cutting machines
This really surprised me a lot. I would have never thought there were this many potato mashers. Holy Moley.
I really never knew there were this many variables of Mr. Potato Heads.
After we saw all the museum, we went into the attached cafe. You could order, a baked potato with all the fixings or fresh cut fries. Well, we decided on the fries and they were really tasty. Curt had a soda. The little cafe was decorated pretty cute. I thought the curtains were unique. Of course, they were potatoes.
His soda bottle.
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After we left there we walked across the street to the Candy Shop and then we went to another shop to look around. So really all in all it was a lot of fun and we were glad we went. Who would have ever thought a potato could be so interesting. lol
We were going to go to the Sawtooth Mountains, but after talking to Steve about it we decided not to make that long trip. Steve was the one to take us the time we got to go and he knew all the great places. It would have taken us a good 4 hours to get there and not knowing were to go we decided we would do that another time.
We will be getting everything packed up and we will be pulling out of here early early Sunday morning and we are going to drive as far as Cheyenne, Wyoming. Then we will leave early early from there and get to Colby. I will tell you this, this homesick MiMi can hardly wait to see Ella and I am pretty excited to see Tania and Brett too. We hope to get there in time to pick Ella up from DiDi’s. We will stay the night, then head on to Dodge City. We are excited to see all our friends as well. We will make time to go to Howard to see Mama and Sister as well. We have been gone since February and we have had so much fun and we have learned a lot about the RV life. When we head out again, we will make some changes about little things we have learned along the way. We have truly found that we love this life style. We are so glad you made the decision to become permanent RVer’s. We feel like we are truly living the dream and we have never once looked back to question this decision. This truly is the life. Once all the doctor appointments, holidays and Ella’s Birthday is over we will begin traveling again, we hope.
I will continue to blog about things so stay tuned to our next adventure.
Until next time!