Fun Facts for Your Idaho Kid

         I was actually born in Nevada, graduated from high school in Arizona, and attended college in Idaho. Fortunately I ended up staying in Idaho. Besides being a great place to live, it’s a great place to raise children (which I’m sure you’ve already discovered). Here are some interesting and fun facts your Idaho kid can celebrate, “If you can, or if you know how…”

The People 

        The people are friendly and happy to be here. Teenagers smile or wave. Your neighbor’s ancestors could have settled the first town in Idaho—Franklin, in 1860. Or your neighbors could have moved here from California last year, and even though the weather is puzzling, they decided to stay.

The Weather 

        There’s a saying in Idaho, “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. It will change.” With highs over 100 degrees in the summer (118 degrees is the record high, in Orofino on July 28, 1934) and lows below freezing (-60 degrees is the record low, at the Island Park Dam on January 16, 1943), Idaho’s extreme changes in temperature occur throughout the year or within a day. To live in Idaho, you need to own several jackets and coats of varying thickness. You might wear them all in one day.

Activities 

        No matter what the season, enjoy Idaho’s great outdoors as you ski at Bogus Basin Mountain Resort or any of the other nearby mountain resorts, water ski at Lucky Peak, fish at Swan Falls, or hike Mount Borah, the highest mountain in Idaho.

        Pretend you’re on the moon as you hike around Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument. This is where astronaut Alan Shepard and the crew of Apollo 14 came to experience a landscape similar to the moon.

        You don’t have to travel far to view a canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon. Hell’s Canyon, along the western Idaho border, averages 6,600 feet in depth.

        No matter how well you shake out your shoes, you always bring home some of the Bruneau Sand Dunes. The state park still lays claim to North America’s tallest single structure dune at 470 feet high.

        Tempting as they may look on a hot summer day, because of the safety movies shown in school (and your parents’ instructions), you know NOT to swim in the irrigation canals that traverse through the cities and counties.

Agriculture and Industry 

        Idaho is famous for its potatoes, and wherever you go and travel to, others out-of-state will thank you for our Idaho potatoes. Don’t be surprised if someone from a McDonald’s restaurant thanks you too! And it might seem a little ironic that one of Idaho’s other prominent agricultural products, sugar beets, do produce sweet sugar, but in the processing and refinement, the smell of production is, well, not so sweet.

        And while you’re out in the woods, keep an eye open for a huckleberry. It’s a tasty small berry, not just the name of the main character in Mark Twain’s book. If you’re an Idaho kid, you or your grandma knows of a secret huckleberry picking location and you aren’t sharing the information. Hmm, wonder if they might have a secret location for morel mushrooms too…?

The History 

        Long before nuclear fusion, Sacagawea aided Lewis and Clark on their journey to the Pacific Ocean. However you pronounce her name, she was a Shoshone woman born in Lemhi County, Idaho.

        Rigby, Idaho claims the status of the birthplace of television. Philo T. Farnsworth lived in Rigby when (as a teenager!) he began work that would result  in the invention of a fully electronic television system.

        The Old Idaho Penitentiary held such famous inmates as Bub Meeks, a member of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, and Harry Orchard, assassin of former Governor Frank Steunenberg.

Pronunciations and Places 

        Say “Governor Frank” if you can’t pronounce his last name, but please pronounce Boise with an “s” like it’s spelled, not a “z.” It’s okay to say “pop” instead of soda.

        Idaho is nowhere near Iowa. Moscow, Paris, and Rome are all cities in Idaho, not just in foreign countries. Arco was not the site of the first nuclear testing. It was the first city in the world to be lit by atomic energy, which lasted for two hours.

        When you see the lights up on Bogus Basin, you know it’s not an alien landing or nuclear testing, just lights from the chairlifts, lighted ski runs, and towers, for those skiers who braved their way up the curvy access road.

        National television sports broadcasters like to joke, “Don’t adjust your television screen…” Yes, the blue turf at Boise State is truly blue.

Wildlife 

        Not too far from Boise State University, the World Center for Birds of Prey works to conserve raptors in nature. Idaho children know that raptors are not just dinosaurs. Raptors, or birds of prey, are meat eaters that use their feet to capture prey.

        Salmon and wolves are both hunted and protected in Idaho.

        Living in Idaho, or the Gem State, may not bring us treasure chests of gems, but with our rich history, friendly people, and diverse outdoors, Idaho kids know this is the best place to live.

        What’s your family’s favorite thing about living in Idaho and being an Idaho kid? Email and let us know, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Docena Holm has lived in Idaho longer than any other place and is grateful to raise her five children here.

For More Information

Sacagawea - www.sacajaweahome.com

Idaho Climate - www.city-data.com/states/Idaho-Climate.html

Philo T. Farnsworth - www.outwestnewspaper.com/tv.html

Fun Facts  - www.50states.com/facts/idaho.htm