Here are some photos from our Idaho City Excursion - Our summer of Field Trips has been a lot of fun!

I'm sure if you do some research, you'll find some things to do around your area that don't cost anything besides the gas to get there. 

We borrowed my parents old 15 passenger van - it's the one we had when I was growing up so my family of nine siblings could all go places together. We stuffed it full of friends and then caravaned (Is that even a word?) with a couple of other families. The kids now refer to the van as the "fun mobile."

Idaho City is just over an hour away from Boise. It used to be Idaho's largest town - back in the gold rush days it boasted a population of around 15,000! Now there are about 500 full-time residents. 

We stopped by the old jail.

The kids all decided it would be really easy to escape from since there was a large gap between the ground and the building. The building has been moved a few times and now does not sit on a true foundation.

All the old buildings have signs like the one you see in the background here describing their original function. It does not take long to do a self-guided walking tour.

Here is the old Catholic church. It was rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire that wiped out the town. It actually still functions as a church with Mass happening each week.

We lucked out the day we were there because of a reunion of a Smoke Jumpers group that had used Idaho City as their home base 30 years ago all the buildings were opened for tours. Here is a photo of the inside of the church restored as close as possible to its original condition.

This is a shot looking into one of the historic homes. If you look closely, you can see the back room with the pink wallpaper. That's it for this house - just these two rooms. It really puts my large home into perspective - why do I complain about lack of space? Somehow over the generations we have grown to expect far more than is truly needed.

Here is City Hall. It is housed in the original school building. They actually still have the blackboards hanging on the walls inside.

We had a great time learning about Idaho history!

If you go, there is a visitor's center right off the highway as you enter town. They can share with you a copy of the walking tour information. There is a small park in town with picnic tables as well as some others near the visitor's center. There is also a couple of great little places to get an ice cream cone or some lunch. The kids had fun playing in an old time toy store that recently opened where they have a play corner specifically set up for kids to try out the old fashioned toys.  There are quite a few campgrounds in the area so you can stay over night if you'd like. It will be time well spent what ever you do as you build memories together.