Yesterday we had “a day of recovery” to get over our jet lag. We hung around the area in Kellogg, ID.
Our destination is Bozeman, Montana for our four days with family and extended family and this is the sight-seeing part of our trip.
To recap we flew in to Spokane Washington on Friday and are making our way east for a few days before the reunion. Meanwhile we get to see some great sights, interesting places and are glad to enjoy beautiful weather which is forecast to continue.
On Sunday we left Kellogg ID for Columbia Falls, Montana and had plans to check out things there and along the way.
The little town of Kellogg, ID (pop 2230) has some things going for it. It is another example of seeing a great little town we never heard of that has a lot of personality. It is near the Silver Mountain Recreation Area and we can see the ski resort chair lifts going up the mountain from our back yard.
This is the view from the hot tub at our AirBnB in the foreground to the mountain and tiny gondola going up the mountain in the distance. The back of the garage is painted with “Aloha Idaho”. When we first arrived I saw the front door with “Aloha” on it. I messaged our host and asked the significance of Aloha here in Idaho and she said that is her moniker as a real estate person in the area because she lived there for the last 10 years before moving here. It seems a little out of place but it is memorable so I guess that is the point.
Our main activity for the day was our much anticipated trip to a gold mine. Back in the 1880 and 1890 this place was ripe with miners and the hunt for silver and gold was prime.
The Crystal Gold Mine was only three miles away and very convenient to get to.
It was not very crowded and we were very pleasantly surprised how well the experience turned out. Before the tour of the gold mine, we had 30 minutes or so to pan for gold. Our docent showed the boys the art of panning.
They didn’t strike it rich this time but it was fun sifting through the sand and they got a few souvenir gems.
Next was the tour of the Crystal Gold Mine and the first thing we had to do was pick out hard hats. In our group shot below you can see the names on the hats which was kind of fun.
The tour was approximately 900 feet underground and took about 40 minutes. One great thing about it was that the walking path over the ore cart rails was all concrete. It was damp in places but the concrete made it very good walking.
Once again, our docent was very well versed. I found a succinct version of most of his key points on the internet:
Gold extraction at Crystal Gold Mine
The Crystal Gold Mine in Kellogg, Idaho, operated as a hard rock mine during the 1880s, focusing on a gold-bearing quartz vein. The methods used at the time were rudimentary compared to modern practices and involved considerable manual labor and harsh conditions.
Mining the quartz
Miners drilled into the rock by hand using tools like "Hand Steels," "Single Jacks," and "Double Jacks" (types of hammers).
They worked by candlelight and followed the quartz vein, which was often identified by its reflective properties compared to the surrounding rock.
When necessary, they might have used small amounts of dynamite or scaling (chipping away at the rock) to access the quartz.
The extracted quartz was then brought to the surface, likely using mine cars on tracks, an advanced feature for the time period.
We actually could see some gold embedded in quartz on this particular lighted glass:
It was 73 degrees up top outside and only 53 degrees inside the mine tunnel.
Had to take a group picture.
After our tour we found a picnic table and had lunch.
In fact we usually make it a habit every day to pack a lunch, whether we are at a specific place or just driving.
After lunch, the boys took their turns at the shooting range. They each got 100 BB pellets and the goal was to hit the target so none of the red star was showing.
They both did about the same and left tiny spots of red on the target so no prize this time. But they had fun.
Our next event was to go back to our place and have some serious hang out/nap time to get over the jet lag. I spent longer that usual napping on a blanket in the back yard. It was great. Everyone else had some quiet time inside. Afterward I walked three blocks to the “downturn” area that had been blocked off for the annual 3on3 basketball tournament.
Pam and I first learned about 3on3 basketball in 2011 when we had a Warner Bros and Wives Reunion in Spokane. Spokane hosts an annual “Hoopfest” and hundreds of teams from all over participate each year. Who knew? They advertise as the “Largest 3on3 basketball tournament on earth” 3000 volunteers? it is huge!
In Kellogg, their version is much smaller but still entertaining and fun to watch. I got to watch the dunk
http://www.silverhoops3on3.com contest. Bouncy Ben came out the winner this time. I guess he has done this before and well known.
On the next block I saw The Silver Valley Veteran’s Memorial was very impressed.
Apparently a group of regular coffee drinkers had been talking for years about 1st Lt Frank Reasoner (a local guy) whom they felt was never properly recognized for his service and ultimately giving his life during the Viet Nam War.
The memorial expanded to include all veterans from the local area who have served and were honorably discharged. One thing I liked was that each person gets a 8” x 10” plaque which is placed on the inside of the wall (shown above) that surrounds the memorial.
Later, we had time to wander around another town nearby. Wallace is smaller but seems to have more shops and restaurants.
It again was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed a walk about town. One thing we have noticed in these parts are the huge and magnificent flower hanging baskets.
We ended up for dinner at The Fainting Goat restaurant which had something for everyone:
- bison sliders
-mountain nachos
- mountain man pizza
- mac and cheese
- butter noodles
With that, we returned to our house and the boys jumped in the hot tub and we had a quiet everning.
Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!
This has been at least two years in the making, maybe longer. We are going to spend a few days with my three brothers and wives, their children and then grandchildren. All in all there will be 35 (22 adults and 13 kids). We are scattered out over the midwest, southwest and the east coast and the decision was reached to converge on Bozeman Montana for a few days together. Everyone has made their own accommodations (AirBnB, etc) and some families will be staying together at different places together.
There is a lot to do in that area with Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park good day trips from Bozeman. In our case, we are traveling with daughter Kelly, son-in-law Jonathan and grandsons Brooks and Harrison.
We have had numerous reunions over with brothers and wives over the years. We all like each other, respect each other and love our time together. During our RV days (2009-2019) we got together a few times:https://warnerrvnews.blogspot.com/search?q=Reunion. This link shows two times but I’m sure there were others.
I have often referred to this blog from our RV days when we talk about seeing something and we don’t quite remember when we were there. The Roadrunner Chronicles is helpful because I can do a “search” and sure enough there it is.
Some quick blog searches were useful though not perfect.
Serious planning has been underway since the end of last year and Kelly has done a great job of pulling it all together and at the same time everyone has the leeway to travel to Bozeman and have a little vacation around our time in Bozeman.
Yesterday was day one for us and I asked the boys and Jon about highlights, some of which are included in the recap below:
This has been the easiest trip for Pam and me for some time. We will be gone 11 days with 4-5 actual reunion days in Bozeman. Jon and Kelly have done all the planning and scheduling and all we’ve had to do is pay our share and show up.
Jon found it expensive to fly into Bozeman so we went farther west -- to Spokane, Washington. We had a Southwest Airlines flight with a stop over in Denver. Then we rented a Ford Expedition and drove to Kellogg, ID.
Here some highlights from Day 1:
- Baggage check in and boarding pass at the Southwest kiosk was a breeze. Then we went through the TSA pre-check line, showed our military IDs and it was quick and smooth.
- Southwest Flight to Denver was almost 4 hours but it seemed to go by quickly. We were all able to sit near each other in two rows of three. It was good we each brought sandwiches because the pretzel snacks were nice but not enough for the flight.We had 1 hour 45 min layover in Denver which was plenty to time to grab some chicken tenders, a beer and some fries. Then on to Spokane for a short lest-than two hour flight
- In Spokane we were able to secure the vehicle that was reserved. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. But its did this time and it was great. The Ford Expedition was new, with lots of creature . There was plenty of room for six and suitcases and very comfortable. By then we were realizing we were on the Pacific Daylight Savings time zone and were beginning to feel it. We arrived at our AirBnB at about 8:30 Virginia time.
- Another highlight was the drive from Spokane to Kellogg. Beautiful -- just gorgeous. It was a very pretty afternoon and evening and we say some beautiful sights along the way.
- One such sight was along I-90 where we were able to see some of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Nothing like a great scenic drive to enjoy.
- Our AirBnB: has plenty of bedrooms and completely adequate but nothing fancy. We wanted to get out of Spokane and head east an hour or so. It worked out fine as was very reasonably priced. We have never been to Kellogg Idaho. It’s another gem in small town America.
It’s fun to blog again but a little short update has taken hours because I am so rusty. It’s been a while. More tomorrow to document our vacation and leading up to our extended family reunion. Until then, thanks for checking in on another edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles.
The same day we toured the Indiana State capitol in Indianapolis, we continued north to visit South Bend, Indiana. We were looking forward to seeing the University of Notre Dame and the Studebaker Museum.
Along the way we decided we couldn’t do both in the afternoon and chose to see the Studebaker Museum that day and then see Notre Dame the next morning before we left town for Lansing MI.
Once inside a museum, we paid the admission and proceeded through artifacts on display.
At the start was the orientation video,
which provided an overview and / or basic layout of the museum.
The museum has three stories with an upstairs and a basement, all housing different items. We stopped near the beginning of the self guided tour trail to see the brief film.
The video described the history of the Studebakers who migrated from Europe (Germany) in 1736 and landed in Philadelphia. By the 1850’s the family descendants were in Southbend and worked as blacksmiths, and carriage and wagon builders. The family was long associated with the transportation business including road building, wagon and various carriage designs. Who knew?
The Studebaker company was actually founded in 1852 when the Studebaker brothers built their first two wagons for business owners and for traveling throughout the country. The American West was full of Prairie Schooners and Conestoga wagons built in the Studebaker factory in South Bend.
One of the first displays showed a summary of the Studebaker story.
The Studebaker land holdings and factories of the wagon and horse drawn carriages industry continued to expand throughout the region in the mid to late 1800s.
At the turn of the century, the Studebaker company transitioned to the automobile and became “ the automobile with a reputation behind it". It was a big gamble. It was highly success company with wagon and carriages and then it looked to the future and took on a whole new challenge.
Wikipedia says, "The Studebakers had always viewed the automobile as complementary to the horse-drawn wagon, pointing out that the expense of maintaining a car might be beyond the resources of a small farmer. In 1918, the annual capacity of the seven Studebaker plants was 100,000 automobiles, 75,000 horse-drawn vehicles, and about $10,000,000 worth of automobile and vehicle spare parts ($194,557,522 in 2022 dollars). In the preceding seven years, 466,962 horse-drawn vehicles had been sold, as against 277,035 automobiles, but the trend was all too clear. The regular manufacture of horse-drawn vehicles ended when Erskine ordered the removal of the last wagon gear in 1919. To its range of cars, Studebaker would now add a truck line to replace the horse-drawn wagons. Buses, fire engines, and even small rail locomotive-kits were produced using the same powerful six-cylinder engines.”
Not too far from the beginning one of the many carriage models caught our eye: The 1857 Studebaker Phaeton.
Fast forward to the RV industry and Tiffin Motorhomes-- the maker of the Allegro Bus motorhome which we drove around the country for 10 years. Tiffin also made the wildly successful Phaeton model which was introduced in 2001 as the company’s industry level diesel pusher. I had never heard the name Phaeton before we started RVing and I wonder if somehow they derived the name from the Studebakers?
Back to the museum:
In the late 1800’s, the Studebaker company continued to grow and expand and had contracts with the government to build military and related vehicles during World War I. It, like the world wide economy, ran into tough times during the Great Depression and made its way back in part from government contracts during World War II.
The museum was a mind-boggling because of so many makes and models of wagons, carriages, and then automobiles--it was astonishing. Read about it the list of all their makes and models through the years here. You might be interested to know they built electric cars (battery) from 1902-1912!
Here’s a sampling of the photos of I took of the amazing cars:
Our family bought a Studebaker in the 1960’s which was some variation of the Lark model.
As we walked through the three floors of the museum I was struck by just how many models the comnpany had made over the years. I spent six years working for Electronic Data Systems (EDS) after my Air Force career and joined just after a new CEO was hired. The EDS was on the decline and one of the first things the new boss did was have an “all-hands” meeting and announce the company was going to downsize. He said the company was going to shed its non-essential segments that did not contribute to its "core values". We had so many different and completely unique divisions and business units, we had lost our identity. Our profitable was suffering because of it. So he fixed it and a few years later the company was sold to Hewlett-Packard.
I wondered if the large number of makes and models was a not a major issue for the Studemaker company in the 1950’s and 1960’s? It faced declining sales and lower market share to the point where it produced its last vehicle in 1966.
We thought the museum was very well organized and worth seeing. We are glad we stopped by and learned a little more about one of the car companies that was once a leader in the industry.
After seeing the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, OH, we found the hotel we had reserved and got settled in before going to dinner. We found a favorite restaurant- Longhorn Steakhouse - and enjoyed a quiet evening. The next morning we left for Indianapolis and the state capital. One of our goals is to visit all 50 state capitols. It’s a quest we started while we were on the road full-time in the Roadrunner.
We had an uneventful two-hour drive heading east on I-70. We found a parking garage across the street from the capitol and approached the grounds.
When we visit a state capitol, we want to get a general sense of the “mood” of the place which sometimes depends on the time of the year we are there. This capitol seemed uplifting, organized, open, clean and beautiful.
We had good timing and joined a tour of the building that was forming up. There was only another person on the tour was a lady, and the tour guide.
We learned that the state has had three capital locations. The original capitol in Corydon, IN which still stands. It was a modest two-story limestone structure built while Indiana was still a territory in 1813.
Indiana became a state in 1816.
In 1831, funds were approved for the construction of a larger facility which was completed in 1835. That building was not well built and suffered from inferior limestone which deteriorated to a point the building was condemned in 1877 and razed shortly thereafter. A new building was constructed on the same site and it was completed in 1888.
The building was constructed in the shape of a cross and made of marble, granite and limestone. It reached 256’ high. A large rotunda in the center connects four wings and the building is four stories high. The dome on top can be seen for miles.
In 1988 workers began a seven-year, extensive renovations began which included all of the stonework cleaned and polished. Also the building’s woodwork was cleaned, repaired and polished. Glass that was broken or damaged in the central dome skylight was replaced. Chandeliers were updated based on original designs. Additionally, the building was wired for a new data network. It all cost about $11M.
It was worth every cent. The building inside and out was strikingly beautiful and making it in our mind, one of the top tier most beautiful capitols in our nation. I haven’t counted lately, but I’m guessing we have seen more than half of the country’s seats' of government.
We entered the building on the first floor before going to the tour office on the second floor.
The second floor also contains the Governor’s and related executive offices. The third floor is where we spent most of our time: in the House on the east side, the Senate on the west, and the Supreme Court which is located on the north end.
One thing we immediately noticed was the wide openness of each floor. And of course the main attraction is the central rotunda with the stained glass ceiling.
We made our way to the Governors office and were immediately struck by the beauty of the wood carved conference table at one end of the room.
The 16’ table was carved/built by prisoners from a state correctional facility. Amazingly it is made from cherry, oak, tulip poplar, black walnut, white pine, and maple. It displays all 92 state counties and the official state seal.
Next we went over to the House of Representatives chambers. It also is a beautiful room with lots of intricate and attractive woodworking as well as a large mural on the front wall: Spirit of Indiana
The Senate chambers were in another wing on the same floor. Though smaller, it was also very attractive.
The Supreme Court is in another wing.
Some of the chairs in the gallery date back to the mid 1800s.
After the tour we walked a few blocks over to the War Memorial building which houses the Liberty Bell replica.
Each state capitol was given a replica of the original Liberty Bell as part of a bond fund raising effort by the U.S. government in 1950. Each capital has the bell on display somewhere. It is a bit like hide-and-seek.
Some are in places of prominence, others in obscure locations. Some are inside others are outside on the capitol grounds. Indiana has there’s on display a few blocks away in the War Memorial building.
We tracked it down and found it! And checked it off the list. Read more about the replica Liberty Bells here.
After that, we ate sandwiches for lunch which Pam prepared and then drove on to South Bend Indiana, home of two more places on our sight-seeing list: the University of Notre Dame and the Studebaker museum.
Read about it in upcoming editions of the Roadrunner Chronicles. Thanks for reading today. We especially enjoy your comments - keep them coming!
