Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

After a short break to help celebrate my mother-in-law Ollie’s 95th birthday, I am back. We do not have anything on the books for any other traveling at the moment, so I am am not going anywhere any time soon. Now I can pick up where I left off about sharing our adventures from our epic Northwestern journey as well as all about food, both mine and otherwise, and all kinds of other good stuff, once again.

One of the other things Scott and Traci recommended for us to see was the Idaho State and Territorial Penitentiary, also in Boise. It was a functional prison from 1868-1973. It became a historic landmark in 1974. It was a fascinating tour, filled with all kinds of history and interesting facts. This was one of four territorial prisons in the U.S. We went to one in Laramie, Wyoming, then there is another one in Montana and the fourth one in Texas. We have yet to visit the other two.

The Processing Room.

The weapons room.

The grounds were BEAUTIFUL. You wouldn’t expect to see beautiful rose and iris gardens in a state penitentiary, but the gardens were exquisite. They were actually planted as an incentive for the prisoners. If they were good, and displayed good behavior, they could view the gardens. If not, well let’s just say they were punished severely, with no views at all, among many other things.

Our tour guide was very informative and we learned a lot about life within these limestone walls. The prisoners designed and built the prison, maintained all of the lands, grew their own food, and much more.

Our guide explaining about life within the prison. Life was harsh, to say the least.

Aside from the flowers, the prisoners who behaved well also were allowed to keep a cat that one of the prisoners had smuggled in through his toolbox while out doing one of his prison jobs. The prisoners named the cat Dennis. Dennis the cat was quite the celebrity and was very well loved by all. When he died, they buried him on site as a way to honor him.

Many of the prisoners were well educated, and in most cases were more educated than most of the guards. This was pointed out by the sign designating the bench for the guards only. It should read “benches for guards only”.

There were ten executions in the prison. Not all of them went well. There were a few botched executions. The executions were by hanging. Here is the execution room.

Raymond Snowden was the last prisoner to be executed at the Idaho State Penitentiary.

There were both men and women imprisoned here, and for the most part, they were only separated, but still basically housed in the same areas. This was until there was a rape of a female prisoner by a guard, that resulted in pregnancy and a botched “forced” abortion. After that, a separate women’s prison was constructed just across the street in 1920.

Many of the prisoners, and especially the women prisoners, were incarcerated and sentenced to hard time for very minor infractions of the law, or for things that we take for granted today. Luckily times are a changin’.

This was a fascinating tour and a must see for anyone who loves history. There was more history on site as well, but I will save that for later. There was a military museum on the prison grounds as well. We visited it while waiting for our tour to begin.

Life is short and we never know how long we have. Carpe diem. Seize the day. Make the most out of everyday, and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We are taking a quick weekend trip to Hays, Kansas, leaving tomorrow. Larry’s mom, Ollie, is having a big birthday bash for her 95th birthday. We are only going to be gone for a long weekend, and I will soon be back to continue with my tales of our Northwestern journey and plenty more. 🙂

Scott and Traci both had to work while we were up visiting, so we took off by ourselves to tour around the Boise area. Dennis, Lee, Larry and I are all VERY seasoned and VERY experienced travelers, so no problem. We can always find entertaining things to do. We got back together later for dinner with Scott and Traci.

Our first stop was the historic Boise Train Depot. Last time I went up to visit, Traci took us there too, but we never got to tour around inside. This time, we got to see the station from both the inside as well as the beautiful garden area outside.

Built in 1925 for use as a Union Pacific railroad depot, the building was designed by New York architects and was heralded as “the most beautiful structure of its kind in the west.” In 1997, the Boise Depot shut down its operations. It was refurbished, renovated and preserved as a historic landmark. All Aboard!

Big Larry standing next to Big Mike. Big Mike, a Mikado-type steam locomotive, was built in 1920 by the American Locomotive Co. The powerful 2-8-2 Mikado was designed to include a large firebox supported by a two-wheel trailing truck located behind the rear driving wheels. The locomotive acquired the name Mikado because the first 2-8-2 engines were built for export to Japan. Nicknamed Mike by railroad men, it was a very successful type of locomotive. More than 14,000 were manufactured between 1920 and 1944. Boise’s Big Mike was used as an all-purpose freight engine along Union Pacific’s main line from North Platte, NE to Fruitland, Idaho.

Inside the bell tower there are four bells, all different sizes. They stopped ringing them because they were causing the structures of the bell tower to crack.

A view of Downtown Boise. Today, nets are up all around the bell towers to prevent birds from flying in.

The surrounding Platt Garden was created in 1927 by Union Pacific. Today, the Depot and its surrounding garden is used for all kinds of events, including weddings. There were so many beautiful flowers in the garden that made the garden even more beautiful.

These Buckeye trees are absolutely gorgeous. I was fascinated by them and had never seen them before, at least not in full bloom.

Because I LOVE history, I also love being able to step back in time to glimpse how things once were. I think, and maybe I am just romanticizing the past, life was a lot more glamorous in the previous times than it is today.

Go back in time, and be transformed to a different time. See how things were as opposed to how they are. If you are anything like me, you will be absolutely amazed. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

After leaving Shoshone Falls Our Epic Northwestern Journey – Part 4 – Next Stop, Idaho – Shoshone Falls we headed straight north up to Caldwell for a couple days of visiting with our friends Scott and Traci, at their “Idahome”. It was yet another beautiful and scenic drive along the way.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say this bottle of wine and wine glass were put there just for me. But alas, I know differently. We were paralleling the Snake River, which is home to about 60 wineries in Idaho. Hitting the Caldwell Wine Trail

After driving for about 2 1/2 hours, we made it to Scott and Traci’s and were greeted with open arms and lots of hugs. Then they introduced us to their furry and feathered family. They live on about 2 1/2 acres of land, and are branching out. They now have chickens, and are thinking about getting some cows and goats as well.

This is Tigger, one of the newest family members. Tigger and I made fast friends with each other. He even slept with us. He wanted to make sure we felt welcomed.

Scott and Traci have about 11 chickens who lay about 56 eggs a week for them.

Traci holding one of her girls. Traci loves her girls, and they love their momma.

The Henseik Idahome is filled with lots of birds of all kinds. Here are some of their resident quails

Scott, like me, LOVES to cook. He and Traci cooked us a delicious dinner, using one of Scott’s new favorite “toys”.

After dinner, we all enjoyed lots of laughs and fun stories. Scott and Dennis hit it off immediately. There were lots of fun times, with lots more to come. 🙂

Life is ALWAYS better when shared with good friends, family and good food. 🙂 Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We were only in Utah for one day before heading up to Idaho. Idaho is another beautiful state with a lot to see and do.

The main reason for an Idaho stop was to visit with our friends Scott and Traci. You’ve “met” Scott and Traci a few times. Scott has been featured as a guest chef a few times, Cooking With Scott – Videos #26 and #27 and Traci had her her own short video too, Traci’s New Vintage. Scott and I go way, way back, and have known each other since junior high school. We still had about a five hour drive from Layton, Utah before arriving at Scott and Traci’s though. Of course we took a few stops along the way to take in the sights.

Scott and Traci recommended we stop at Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls. GREAT suggestion. Shoshone Falls was about 2 1/2 hours from Scott and Traci’s house in Caldwell. It was magnificent, albeit a little chilly!!!! Only one side of the falls was flowing, but it was still a sight to behold. Shoshone Falls is a natural beauty on the Snake River. At 212 feet, the falls are higher than Niagara Falls. Shoshone Falls are known as the Niagara Falls of the west.

I got lucky and was able to capture the rainbow too. I wasn’t sure if it would come out in the picture, but as you can see, it did.

We were freezing here. We brought mostly shorts. We were told it was warm and sunny. WRONG! 🙂 We had cool, chilly weather, and a lot of snow, from here through most of our Canadian portion of the trip as well. We weren’t prepared for so much cool weather or snow. But we’re tough, and we made it just fine. 🙂

When in the Southern Idaho region, this is a definite must-see. Shoshone falls is truly breathtaking.

You may have noticed I am NOT writing about a lot of food or restaurants this trip, which is really unusual for me, I know. Lee has severe food allergies, so we just kept to food basics for the most part. I will feature some restaurants and food, but not many for this trip. I’ll save those for another trip. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Life has so many beautiful things to offer. We just need to open our eyes and hearts to see them. The more we see, the more open we will be to seeing others. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Yesterday I shared our prehistoric adventures in Utah. Our Epic Northwestern Journey – Part 2 – Utah, The Prehistoric Version Today, I am going to share our wild Utah adventures.

Upon leaving Price and the Prehistoric museum, we continued north up past Salt Lake City to Layton. After getting settled in to our hotel for the night, we went out to explore. I really wanted to see the famous Salt Lake. I had no idea what was in store for us, and was very pleasantly surprised once we got there. I was expecting Salt Lake to be more like the salt mines we have visited in Bonaire. Instead, we discovered there is a huge wildlife preserve, called Antelope Island State Park.

This is the road that leads you through the lake.

Antelope Island State Park is HUGE! The only inhabitants of the island are wild animals, though people can get camping permits. We saw so many bison/buffalo, pronghorn/antelopes, coyotes, deer, and so much more. It was beautiful. We all thoroughly enjoyed our wild find. We had no idea this place existed, but were so happy to find that it did. We drove around a lot and we got out and walked and explored quite a bit as well.

When touring around through places like this, we always like to go into the visitors’ centers as well. You can learn so much. And often times you can see much more than you can see in the parks themselves.

There were plenty of birds all around too. I saw the same birds I see at home, and even though I see them at home all the time at home, I never tire of seeing them wherever I go. I saw Mourning Doves, Barn Swallows and Crows. This is by far the most impressive birdhouse I have ever seen.

At first we thought this was a momma with her babies, but after getting a closer look, no. She was just singing away, having a good time.

We spent quite a while in the park, enjoying everything we saw. By the time we were leaving, the sun was starting to go down too, which gave a completely different look to the park.

Pictures don’t really do Antelope Island justice, but at least they give you a good idea of what to see. I highly recommend visiting the island when in the Salt Lake City or Layton areas of Utah.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Walk on the wild side and take it all in. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

You all know I rarely reblog other posts. When I do, you know I think think they are really good tips and ideas for everyone. This blog post about reducing food costs from Chef Daniel Pliska is a great blog, https://chefpliska.com/. Times are tough economically right now. They are certainly the toughest I have ever seen, so learning ways to save as much money as you can, and still trying to eat healthy meals, are always welcomed. I already do all the things Chef Pliska recommends to do. I have cooked this way my whole life, even when cooking professionally. I remember my sous chef and I planning our menus that incorporated our leftovers every week. No one every knew but us. 🙂 Enjoy.

After leaving Grand Junction and Colorado Monument Park, our next stop and state was Utah.

On average, we drove between 5-6 hours per day, stopping along the way for whatever came up that sparked our interests, as well as for personal reasons.

Southern Utah and Western Colorado are geographically very similar. Both are beautiful in their own right, only I think Colorado is more colorful, making it prettier to me. A good number of my geographical photos were taken from the car as were were driving, so I apologize if they are grainy and/or slightly out of focus. There is only so much you can do from a car traveling roughly 80 mph. 🙂

We stopped at a lot of museums and historical interpretative centers, where we learned a lot about things we had only heard of before. Layton, Utah was going to be our final stop for the day. Before arriving in Layton, however, we stopped at the Prehistoric Museum in Price, not long after entering Utah. It was filled with dinosaur remains and displays, and was very interesting. I am only going to present a small sampling of the photos I took, to give you a brief overview, (and not to bore you completely) and hopefully spark your interests to go there when doing your own traveling.

There were also a lot of Native American exhibits and displays as well. Before learning from the displays, I always thought the Wooly Mammoth was extinct long before the arrival of man. But I was wrong. I learn new things everyday. 🙂 Wooly Mammoths and Native Americans lived side by side. The Wooly Mammoths were vital to the survival of many Native American tribes.

Alien influences perhaps? Ancient Native drawings.

Outside the museum was a beautiful tribute to the different branches of the military, as well to the coal miners lost to the mines. There were also so many gorgeous irises. In fact, we saw so many gorgeous irises, of all colors, and sizes everywhere we went. Needless to say, I took a lot of photos of irises. My mother would have loved all the beautiful irises.

I hope you are enjoying this so far. I have oh so much more fun adventures and photos to share. We are just getting started. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe, stay well, and always keep alive the thirst for knowledge and for growth. ‘Til next time.

As you know, we are back from our epic Northwestern journey. We covered seven states and all of the Southern Rockies of Canada. For the most part, our journey took us all through the Rocky Mountains, starting in Colorado. We visited Western Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Canada, Alberta, Canada, Montana, Wyoming, all before coming back home to the North Denver Metro area. Larry and I love just getting in the car to go. We like road trips a lot, though granted, they are NOT for everyone. This recent trip is by far the longest road trip in a car, we have ever done. We traveled with my Australian “brother” Dennis, and my “sister-in-law” Lee. Dennis and Lee came all the way from Australia to join us on this epic Northwestern journey. We saw a lot, did a lot and visited three sets of friends along the way, staying with each set of friends for a couple of days before starting our travels once again to parts unknown.

We headed westward, for the first leg of our journey ending, up in Grand Junction for the first night. Once again we visited Colorado Monument Park, which was also the first leg of our road trip last year as well. Our Trip To The West – Day #2 – Colorado National Monument. Even though our trip began in the middle of May, we still had a lot of snow all along the way. Here we are in our own Rocky Mountains, at Loveland Pass, headed up towards Grand Junction, Colorado.

Once we crossed the Continental Divide, then we lost the snow and had warm weather for a couple of days.

Colorado Monument Park is absolutely stunning. I could go again, and again, and again, and never get sick of all its natural beauty. This was our third time to visit, Dennis and Lee’s first. We have seen something different every time we have visited.

I missed everyone, and I have been so looking forward to start sharing with all of you once again. I have edited ALL 1250 pictures I took, and am beginning to whittle away at all the emails I accrued in my absence. Trust me, I WILL NOT bore you with all of my pictures, just the highlights. 🙂 Only geeks like me get excited about seeing EVERYTHING and EVERY picture. 🙂

This is day one of our seventeen day-long journey through The North American Rockies, both in the United States and Canada. Buckle up and bring snacks. I have tons of fun things to share. I hope you enjoy our adventures as much as I enjoy sharing them. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I am home again. We had a great trip. We saw so much and did so much and covered A LOT of territory, but it is good to be home again. I missed the “kids” way too much and I think they missed us just as much. I just got back from taking my Australian brother and sister-in-law to the airport. It has been an even longer trip for them, since they arrived in the United States a month before we all went on our long, epic journey together. They are flying back to Melbourne tonight. Now, I have to get caught with everything once again.

I am still editing my bazillion pictures, and getting through all of my 15,000 emails. So I am not quite ready to start my blog again on a regular basis just yet, but soon. I have lots of good things to share. 🙂