I’m an Idaho girl born and raised– but I didn’t grow up in potato growing Idaho.  In fact, I don’t think I really saw a potato field until I was a teenager.  I grew up in Boise, which is about as citified as Idaho can get.  (And really one of the coolest cities there is, in my humble opinion.  The Denver area, where we live now, is pretty cool, but way too big for me.  Boise is like a mini Denver.)

My brother, however, married a girl from the potato capital of the world and lives there now.  We decided to make this year’s Idaho trip to their neck of the woods.  No matter where you go, if you’re with family it’s the perfect place.  We had fun.

My brother and his family spent the winter making this little house, built in something like 1913, livable.  For $19,000 they got some good bones, but had to totally gut it.  The before pictures are pretty scary.  It amazes me how some people choose to live.  The plaster had completely fallen off the walls in some places so you could see right outside through the walls.  My brother and his wife didn’t realize that the black sink was really bright orange enamel until they did a little cleaning before the kitchen demolition.  My brother’s done an amazing job turning it into a lovely home for his family. They’ve just got to build a garage and put siding on and they can say it’s done.

My parents came out too and brought one of my little nieces.

The kids played outside every second they could.

We got there just in time to see a baby gecko hatch!

 

We went swimming at Lava Hot Springs,

played with Papa at the park,

and celebrated his birthday.

Did you know that there is an entire museum dedicated to the Idaho potato?

Well, now you do.  One thing I learned is that potatoes are native to South America.  They were brought to Europe by Spanish explorers, spread throughout Europe, and then were later brought to North America.  So even though Idaho is so uniquely suited to potato growing they’re not from there.  I never knew that.

More importantly, though, the museum houses the largest collection of potato mashers (neatly displayed thanks to some kid’s Eagle Scout project) and the world’s largest Pringle (technically a potato “crisp”).

There was also some prep for the front walk to be done, so all the boys pitched in to help.

Little kids sure love to do REAL work.

It kept them busy for a long time.

I sure love my family and it was so good to visit Tyler and Katie and their cute boys.  Cramming 7 extra people (or 10!) into a little house with one bathroom can be a little crazy– but it was good crazy.  And too short.

(We did venture farther than the Potato Museum– that’s where we saw the bison I posted the other day.  It will take a whole other post to show you that, so come back tomorrow.)