Fun at the Fair!

One of the fun things we like to do is attend the "local fairs" when we can.  It's always fun to see what an area's "County Fair" is like...each is so different!  Over the years we've wandered into everything from banjo contests to tri-state 4H competitions, to tiny little fairs that we could hardly even find to great big ones.  You just never know what your going to find, that's why I like them!

So, when I saw the ad for the "Idaho County Fair" I got excited!  "Oh boy", I told Jack, "Lets go and see what it's all about!" so, off we went on opening day!

The first thing I noticed that was different, was...no admission charge!  ;-)  The first tent we went into was the Arts & Crafts competition...my favorite!  Right as we entered was the Best of Show quilts - beautiful!!  Now, I have to say, we've seen some beautiful quilts over the years, but wow, (the one on the left) I would have actually bought this one, it was so beautiful!  My picture does not do it justice.

Then on around the room we went, enjoying the rest of the quilts, and needlework, flower arrangements, and then, my favorite (of course) the photography.  Always fun to see what the "judges" think should be the 1st, 2nd & 3rd place winners.  I've never figured out their reasoning...have you?  Anyway, all fun!

Now it was time to try out the local food!  Hm mm what to try first?  One of the fun things to do at a fair is to go crazy and eat what "this year's fad is", right?  Well, I walked up and down and read the menus, and it seemed that the "savory" was a mashed potato cup with tons of cheese along with onions, bacon and some other things I can't remember...what ever it was, it was to much for me (and that's saying a lot) - so I passed it up.  The "sweet" was deep fried Oreo cookies (to sweet for me too).  I opted for "steak bites & fries", not bad, and then had a Huckleberry Ice Cream cone for dessert!!  Yum!

Next up, the entertainment!  It was fiddle players, and pretty good too!  At one point a grandmother brought her young grandson up with his and encouraged him to play one song for us, very sweet.  All along the sides in the the background you could just hear the auctioneer selling off the 4 H kids animals, and watch them as they brought them in and out of the barns, getting them ready to sell.

Its so fun to watch all the children at these family oriented, small fairs.  There were no rides or carnival games.  It was all about the animals, the arts and crafts and local talent.  It was about family, friends and time together.  Old fashioned and nice.

After we left there, there was one more stop I wanted to make en route back to our campsite and that was a visit to the The Monastery of St Gertrude in Cottonwood.

This is an active monastery of Benedictine sisters who live here and operate a B & B and a Spirit Center Retreat Center.  It was founded by 3 sisters who arrived in 1882 from a cloister in Sarnen Switzerland.  In their long history they established 14 schools and 2 hospitals.

The Monastery is not open to the public but they have a history museum and a beautiful chapel that is.  We visited both and had a delightful conversation with one of the sisters in the history museum.  What a unique place.  I'm so glad we stopped.

What a nice way to end our visit of Idaho, now we are off to Washington!  Over the hills and through the fields we go...

...on the road,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

A little bit of heaven...

After leaving Ft. Pierre, we did spend a few days in Spearfish SD and had a blast walking the streets of Sturgis gawking at all the various motorcycles along with all the paraphernalia that one could buy to go along with them!  What a blast these people were going to have the next week at this rally!  They had all kinds of entertainment lined up for them, from big name bands to races.  Good for them!  Our campsite was already booked with 90% riders coming in ahead to enjoy the countryside and side trips.  The weather was great, they were all in for a wonderful week ahead!  We were there three days, long enough to enjoy the sights and buy some "souvenirs", then on to Montana to meet up with some friends...

We settled into our campground in Montana that we were to meet up with our friends, only to find out that it wasn't going to happen.  Unfortunately, family problems occurred and they couldn't meet up with us.  Life happens.  So, the luxury of having your home with you, you just check your map, and the weather, and reroute yourself!  I made a couple of calls and found out that some of our other friends were camped not to far from us in Idaho, so, we headed over to them!

We had a nice, albeit short visit with our friends before they had to scoot to Oregon for a prescheduled appointment to have some work done on their rig.  We decided that since we were in Idaho, we would spend some time driving around the areas we haven't seen in our previous visits here!  One of the nice things Jack does is keep a "Master Map" of every route we've taken through the years.  That way we can see which roads we've been on and which roads we haven't yet.  Jack found a great scenic route for us right through the middle of Idaho that looked really good for this trip, so that's what we decided to take for the next couple of weeks...making a  s l o w  e a s y  route up to Washington.  Nice.

Making my reservations for the first couple of stops, I found out that the area we were heading through over the weekend, that they were celebrating a "Huckleberry Festival" and were booked solid everywhere I checked!  Oh my..."who knew?"  Well, I ended up going a little further north (to Riggins) than we had planned and ended up at a very small campground called Riverside RV Park.  The reviews seemed nice, but there were only a couple...but I was getting desperate.  I called them and the lady seemed really nice, checked and yes, they had a spot big enough for us, and ...yes, someone just cancelled, so we could even come in on Thursday, making it 3 nights.  Yea.  I had no idea what to expect, but we could handle anything for 3 nights.  No problem.

Well, it wasn't anything like I expected...IT WAS PARADISE!!  OMG!!  I Wish we could have stayed there for a week or more!!  Pure heaven...Our sweet spot was a pull through right alongside lush green grass with a nice picnic table and all of it over-looked the Salmon River!  There were even steps down to the river, so, if you were a fisherman, or just even liked to go and sit on the rocks below and put your feet in the water, you could - right there at your campsite!  All this right under the the most beautiful, full canopied tree you could ask for.  Beautiful, peaceful, and all for $30. a night.  Amazing.  Bob, the owner was such a sweet guy too, you would see him here and there moving the sprinkler, chatting with people, etc.

Just up the road a bit, we enjoyed watching rafters spend some time on the river and wished we were with them!  ...maybe we will do that next week when we are in Grangeville.

Such a nice surprise to find a bit of heaven along our little adventure in Idaho!  It will be fun to see what else is in store for us as we travel along our "scenic route"!

...on the road in Idaho,  Marie