A Titanic Adventure

Last Friday, we set out on a nearly 315-mile road trip to Eastern Idaho. Our destination? The Museum of Idaho, to see the Titanic Artifact Exhibit. If you've never been out West, this is what you see a lot of: Wide Open Spaces.


Everyone was all smiles as we set out.

Griffin "read" all the books I'd packed in about the first 20 minutes.

The Captain, tending to some urgent Army business. I annoyed him by taking a picture of him, every time his cell phone rang. I stopped taking pictures after about the 7th call, but they kept coming just the same!

Look! I was there, too!

We made a pit-stop at the Mountain Home armory, where I snapped a quick picture of the sign, while Steve is still in command (for one more week).

When we pulled into the armory, there was a cow in the parking lot.

Isn't Idaho lovely?

Next stop: Craters of the Moon National Monument. The boys loved it! We got in a good leg stretching.

Soldier down!

At long last, we reach our hotel in Idaho Falls, where Camden treats Griff to a choppy back massage.

Mmmmmm! Continental breakfast!

After not being able to fall asleep the night before, Camden woke up at the crack of dawn and proceeded to ask every 5 minutes, what time the museum opened. He wanted to be the first one in the door, and I am happy to report that he was! The exhibit was absolutely amazing. No cameras allowed inside, unfortunately. Needless to say, we had a great time. I think my favorite artifact may have been the perfume bottles that had been brought on board by Adolphe Saalfeld of Manchester, England. He was a perfume maker, and boarded Titanic carrying a leather satchel filled with 65 little bottles, that he was probably taking to America to sell in various boutiques. He survived the sinking, but his satchel sank with the ship. Of the 65 bottles lost, 62 have been recovered. There were little holes in the display case, and you could still smell the beautiful perfume. Amazing. Camden's favorite: the large model of Titanic, as it appears on the ocean floor.

After lunch, we started our journey back West. We passed a ton of these potato barns.

This is Number Hill in Arco, Idaho. Graduating seniors have painted their year of graduation on this hillside every year since 1920.

Hey, look! Picabu, Idaho! Did you know that this is the town that inspired Picabu Street's name?

We stopped for the night in Fairfield, a one-horse town. We had a fabulous meal at the Soldier Mountain Brewing Company. Did you know that the actor Bruce Willis owns Soldier Mountain? Actually, by the time our meal came, the boys were done eating, so we packed ours to go and headed to a local playground so the boys could burn off some pent-up energy.

Chicken Gorgonzola pasta....delish.

After a couple of glasses of a delightful Spanish wine, I did a little climbing.

Breakfast the next morning....

Before hitting the road, we watched the beginning of the Camas Days 10K, organized by our good friend Dennis, who just happens to have been Steve's commander while they were in Iraq. That's Dennis in the blue shirt. The "yellow team" from the most recent season of the Biggest Loser was supposed to be there to run the race, but they didn't show up. Hmmmmm......

We made it home around lunch time, and what a great time we had. It was great to get out of town and see another part of this beautiful state.