Scheppkes Across Idaho, Day 1

Yesterday was all about Idaho. We left John Day after a big breakfast back at the Outpost where we ate last night. I had huckleberry pancakes loaded with berries. Jane had the "meat eaters" omlette! After that it was off to Idaho.

But before we left John Day we checked out the truly weird and great Grant County Museum in Canyon City, just up the road from John Day. It has no less than three two-headed calves and the real skulls of the first two men hung in Grant County.

One of the first things you see on I-84 across the border is a new speed limit: 75. That's 10 miles higher than in Oregon. People go even faster of course. Twice the traffic slowed to a crawl for miles because of bad accidents, and also because they are doing major work on I-84 that closed down lanes.

The kids wanted to have a look at Boise, so we pulled off the freeway and cruised through downtown, including their nice traditional state capitol building.

We saw some interesting sights from the freeway. This is God's country.



By dinnertime we had made it to our destination of Twin Falls. The downtown has been pretty much sucked dry by the retail development out by the freeway. We tried to find an interesting place to stay with no luck. We did find a interesting place to eat. Idaho Joe's had Idaho food, including one of the biggest baked potatoes I have ever consumed. Most of us had the steak, spud and pie special. Our Comfort Inn had decent wireless and a pool, so we were all set for our evenings entertainment.

Our motel is just a few blocks from the Snake River canyon that is the major attraction in Twin Falls. Jane and I walked down to have a look. There is a nice walking and bike path with scenic views. Today we will go back there and check out the Evel Knievel jumpsite and some other Twin Falls attractions before continuing our journey.

More on Petersen Rock Gardens

I gather that Petersen Rock Gardens near Redmond, Oregon, used to be a major tourist attraction. It is only a quarter mile or so from the old highway that connected Bend and Redmond. Now US 97 is a few miles away and the Gardens are isolated and don't seem to get many visitors. Still the family works hard to keep it up and honor the legacy of Rasmus Petersen, who labored from 1935 to 1952 to create a four acre garden filled with amazingly intricate miniature buildings, castles, bridges and other displays made from rocks that he collected in the area.
The brochure that you can pick up in the museum says that Petersen was born in Denmark in 1883 and came to Central Oregon in 1906 to farm. He retired from farming in 1935 and began to build his Gardens. He used petrified wood, agate, jasper, thundereggs, malachite, lava, and obsidian, among other rocks that he collected within 85 miles of his home.

The brochure notes that "evidence of his love and respect for God and his adopted country is seen in the numbers of miniature churches, the flag of the United States, and the magnificent Statue of Liberty, which a sculptor carved from a local boulder."
When questioned about the incredible effort it took over many years to build his Gardens, the brochure notes that Petersen "maintained that handling all those stones and boulders was nowhere near the work he did in farming, year after year, plowing the fields and hauling off tons of rock."

I hope someday the Petersen Rock Gardens is recognized as important folk art, on a par with Watts Towers in Los Angeles, which is now a public park. I would love to see Petersen Rock Gardens become an Oregon state park some day.

There is a funny old "museum" with rock displays, a couple of pictures of Rasmus, and some neglected looking souveniers. And the woman running the place, presumably a Petersen, had the cutest kitty.

Welcome to our Vacation Blog!

Hi everyone. This is the first day of our 2007 summer vacation. This is the only time that the five Salem Scheppkes could plan a 10 day trip. It may be the last time that happens. Who knows! We decided months ago to drive to Yellowstone National Park, since I am the only one who has ever been there, and I just drove through once when I had a business meeting nearby. I reserved two nights in a cabin in the park, and made a dinner reservation at the Old Faithful Inn. To get there, we are driving through the middle of Oregon and through Idaho. After our stay at the park we will drive up to Montana and back through N. Idaho and E. Washington, then down to Wallowa Lake in NE Oregon where we have been several times, and then back home.

Today was a good day. Everyone got up in reasonably good time and we packed and hit the road about 10. By one we were in Redmond and just happened on a really good place for lunch called Jody's. All the staff seemed to be kids, but they made a mean burger and the Rueben was outstanding. I also had a fresh raspberry shake.

Then is was on to our two major destinations of the day. For some reason, this part of Oregon has the two premier folk art destinations in the state, within a few miles of each other. First we went to Petersen Rock Garden, an amazing park with displays made out of rocks. It was obviously a labor of love for Rasmus Petersen, a Danish immigrant, who began working on it in the mid 30's. It is still in the family and they are keeping it in pretty good shape. We probably were here last about 10 years ago.

Then it was on to the Funny Farm, another kind of weird roadside attraction with walk-through displays made out of bowling balls and other found objects. You walk through an antique store to get to the garden and there you see an amazing doll house with a miniature TV which is playing a video of The Wizard of Oz on a two inch screen (no kidding). It wasn't working when we got there, but the proprietor (and co-creator) turned it on. I said it was my favorite thing at the Funny Farm. He said he thought the best thing was the bowling ball tree. He may be right.

Then we headed straight west across the middle of the state, through the Ochoco National Forest and the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument to the quaint town of John Day. We found a great Googie-style motel called the Dreamers Lodge, with free wi-fi. We walked to dinner at the Outpost Restaurant and had some good salads. Then we shared a piece of great homemade huckleberry cheesecake and coconut cream pie. Yummy. We then walked around John Day a bit. It was originally gold rush town. Now it's kind of a sleepy ranching and logging town.

Tomorrow, it's on to Idaho.