Idaho  Let it be perpetual

Idaho is one of our favorite states!!!!!  My husband and I have actually lived their and we spend many vacations there visiting relatives.  Our postcards came from relatives in that area.  One of my favorites is of an eagle.  Once, while drive around Lake Coeur d'Alene we saw a wintering bald eagle swoop in front of our car and dive at the water and catch a fish!  It is one of those cherished memories of God's fantastic creation!  The kids enjoyed the ones from the Cataldo Mission which is the oldest building in Idaho.  Although they don't remember, they have actually been inside of it.  It's architecture reminds me of the Alamo.  My husband has gone skiing on Silver Mountain, in the Silver Valley many times.  And we enjoyed a wonderful trip on the free worlds longest Gondola ride in Kellogg and looking out over 5 states and Canada-ticket price? $10 -view? $priceless.

In 1942 during WWII the federal government detained about 10,000 Japanese Americans in Camp Minidoka an internment camp in south-central Idaho.  About 110,000 were gathered from the West Coast.  They were concerned that these people might try to help the Japanese troops.  They were released in 1945.

Here's a great little downloadable book with lots of facts as well as coloring: http://gov.idaho.gov/fyi/kidbook/KidBook.pdf

some other good ones:

http://gov.idaho.gov/fyi/symbols/symbols_index.html

Statehood: 1890  #43

Population:  1,393,262, # 39

Capital: Boise (pop 190,122)

Size:  83,557 square miles, #13

Motto: "Esto Perpetua" (Let it be perpetual)

Nickname: The gem state

Flower:Syringa 

Tree: White pine

Fruit:  Huckleberry  (MMMMMMM our favorite fruit!)  The kids love to pick them with  extended family.  We knew someone who actually got $50 a gallon for the tiny little treats.  We tease guests from that area that they are not allowed in the door without a freezer bag of huckleberries!

Bird: Mountain bluebird  

Raptor: Peregrine Falcon

Horse: Appaloosa  

Fish: Cutthroat trout

Fossil:  Hagerman Horse Fossil

Insect: Monarch Butterfly

Gem: Idaho Star Garnety

Dance: Square Dance

Vegetable: Potato

Economy: Silver (at one time it was the biggest producer in the world), potatoes, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Tourism, Food Processing, Timber, Mining, Trout, Austrian Winter Peas, Lentils

River miles: 3,100 (more than any other state)

Famous Idahoans  Henry & Eliza Spalding (second white woman across the Continental divide traveled with Dr. Marcus & Narcissa Whitman she was the 1st), Chief Joseph ("I will fight no more forever") Nez Perce tribe, Ernest Hemingway (visitor and wrote much of For Whom The Bell Tolls here)

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