Every summer we tell ourselves we are going to spend more time outdoors hiking and camping. Every summer we don’t get out nearly as much as we want. This year we’re starting early. Yesterday we took the kids down to Ritter Island to watch an ‘antique farming’ demonstration and go on a little nature hike.
It was a lot of fun watching the draft horses (well Mules in this photo, but there were draft horses there too) plant oats and barley in the fields. Emilie kept chanting, “horsey, horsey.”
As those who know him may expect Jack was not terribly interested in the horse drawn cultivation process. I tried to explain that horses were the predecessor to the tractor but nope, no takers. Then he spotted this…
Now Ritter Island, back in the day (1920’s) , used to be a world-class Guernsey Farm run by a lady named Minnie Miller. There is an awesome old barn and milking parlor which we explored with the kids. We even poked our heads up into the old Hayloft to see if the resident Barn owl was in residence….he wasn’t.
Ritter Island is located in the Thousand Springs area near Hagerman where Idaho’s “lost rivers” burst out of the rocks along the canyon wall and stream crystal clear water down into the Snake. Since the day was so nice and inviting we couldn’t help but take a little nature walk.
Okay, so Kevin and I walked and schlepped the minions on our backs. Jack actually walked about half of the way. Emilie…well, lets just say once she realized how much work was involved in this ‘hiking’ thing, and that she wasn’t going to be allowed to run willy-nilly across the landscape….face first spread-eagle in the dirt until someone picked her up.
Despite playing pack mule for the kids we still had a good time. They loved looking at all the waterfalls and finding butterflies hiding in the grass. Definitely will do this again…plus the way home from this adventure takes one through Buhl. You know what that means…. You can’t go through Buhl and not stop for ice cream at the creamery. What a wonderful day!
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