Idaho Discoveries

 

So what did Hopper learn in those mountains separating Idaho from Wyoming?

First, let’s take care of some business. I read Book III of War and Peace in its entirety while there, surpassing my previous long distance record into the book set in December of 2012. Additionally, I managed to get 164 pages in to Roger Penrose’s Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe before getting lost in the weeds. Some day I’ll learn about twistor theory!

From my Eco Tour I learned moose can swim. Moose can dive. Moose can dive up to 20 feet underwater to eat vegetation at the bottoms of rivers, channels, etc. Because of this, they sometimes end up on the receiving end of the food chain. I was shocked to learn the moose’s number one aquatic foe is the Orca.

Also, there has never been a recorded instance of an Orca eating a human. Or so our guide assured us.

Brain eating amoebas! Brain eating amoebas! Don’t splash water in each other’s faces if your bathing in the 80 degree hot springs in the Wyoming Elk Preserve! (Yes, we stopped by a hot spring and were warned about such creatures from the deepest depths of hell.)

I wondered if skiing is like riding a bike. This old carcass of mine hasn’t skied since Bill Clinton’s first month in office. 29 years ago. Watching my girls on the bunny slope and then the beginner and intermediate slopes, I figured I could do the same. Or at least break a leg trying. I decided to remain cheering on the sidelines.

I learned how to make a monograph. That involves mixing paint on a glass sheet to get a desired palette effect, then wiping it onto a second glass plate. On this second glass plate you’d etch your subject, only in reverse. I decided to visit Middle-earth and do Saruman’s tower of Isengard. The little ones did forests, and the Mrs. did an impressionistic image of birds flying – “Beaks in the Mist.” My Tolkien tower came out crappy. Little One’s dancing trees came out surprisingly well. But “Beaks in the Mist” took the cake.

My brother-in-law had a lefty imitation Fender Stratocaster. I learned that I could play single string riffs and power chords on it, but I had absolutely no idea how to tune it, despite giving it a try for nearly a half-hour. So I knew I’d have trouble should I ever be sucked through the glass into Mirror World.

Animals seen in the wild: Sheep, Rams, Moose, Bald Eagles, Elk. Wife caught a glimpse of either wolves but probably coyotes driving along the rode one day. Bonus: we thoroughly enjoyed our hosts’ two French Bulldogs, Pinot and Coco.

Think this was the highest I ever got above sea level, save for actual flying. Where I live now in Texas is 775 above sea level. When I skied as a lad at Gore Mountain, NY, I was around 3,600 above. My sister-in-law’s place sits at 6,800 feet. Base camp at the local ski mountain is around 7,200, and the top of that mountain (which I did not go to) is around 9,800 feet.

Altitude sickness is a thing. My sister-in-law advised us to take two Advils on the plane and drink two liters of water before landing. We did. And my brother-in-law stated that “one run down the slopes is like three back where you came from.” Similarly, walking a mile up in the mountains of Idaho is like walking three on the Texan plains. I don’t know if I experienced any of that, but I was more winded than normal walking up and down the stairs in their home.

Also, a funny thing happened Thursday afternoon. We were scheduled to leave them at 10 am the next day to drive to the airport for our plane ride home, after visiting for five days. Anyway, that afternoon, I suddenly felt funny. Claustrophobic. Stuffy. Like I was a scientist in a barometric chamber at the bottom of the ocean floor. Confined. It was weird, but it passed. Altitude sickness or a desire to get back to my comfortable existence back home? Not sure.

The girls found a two thrift shops in the local town and I scored a gnarled hardcopy of Bruce Catton’s The Army of the Potomac: Mr Lincoln’s Army. This is part one of Catton’s Civil War trilogy. I had read the third installment, A Stillness at Appomattox a long time ago. Haven’t read much Civil War since 2019 – pre-Covid pre-history. Thinking about returning to the subject this summer, when those Texas winds bring that Texas heat over those Texas plains.

Getting back to Idaho, what did I think?

Well, I enjoyed it tremendously. The landscapes were absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. The wildlife – the moose and bald eagles especially – gave me chills. The bars and grills have great personality. I ate like a king those five days. But …. It’s not my lifestyle. I’m not a skier, and I’m not into snow sports. Nor am I into snow shoveling. The weather held the five days we were there except for the middle day, where a blizzard rolled in and dumped eight inches on us. Yeah, that I can do without.

I think going forward this summer I’m going to push the wife and the girls to take a handful of long weekends and explore the sites and sounds around our neck of the woods, Dallas. Stay somewhere where it’s warm …

 

Up Next: Some pics of the week.