Cutting back a bit on our sightseeing trips, we decided that a visit to Glenns Ferry and the Oregon Trail History and Education Center was a reasonable day trip. Located off I-84 and exit 121 or 120 the center is located within the Three Island Crossing State Park which has a $4 daily use fee which is then good at all the Idaho state parks for the rest of the day.
Approaching the History Center we couldn't help but notice the nice campground in the park with large sites situated among the trees and lush grass. It appears that they are water/electric hook ups only but a rig on one site in particular had a wonderful view of the Snake River from their front door.
The History Center is very new-looking and clean and bright with well written displays and lots of artifacts from both the Native American culture that was disturbed by the arrival of the pioneers and those of the pioneers themselves. It's not a huge center but it will take you at least an hour to explore it. There are a couple of "prairie schooners" outside, including the one used to cross the U.S. during the Bicentennial celebration. It is just incredible to see the small size of one of these wagons and realize that an entire family loaded a year's worth of food and their clothes and items needed to start a new life along with a few valuables in one of them. And that later those same items may or may not have been abandoned for creating too much weight for the mules or oxen pulling the wagon.
Many people had already traveled one thousand miles by the time they reached Idaho only to face one of the worst river crossings on the trail, the Three Island Crossing. Three Island Crossing on the Snake River is deceptively peacefully looking from the bluff above the river, but the swift flowing river and hidden deep holes in the river bed caused the loss of many lives, wagons and animals. The pioneers came to depend on the Native Americans living nearby as guides to find the safest areas to cross, while those who were too timid continued on the trail on the south side of the river across more harsh, treacherous terrain.
If you drive west out of town on First Street to US 30 and then to Sailor Creek Road you can cross the river and follow the Slick Ranch Road turnoff to an unmarked gravel intersection which leads you past the Oregon Trail to a scenic overlook above the Three Island crossing area. You can indeed still see the wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail and walk the same path as 300,000 pioneers did one hundred and sixty years ago. And every year history buffs put on a re-enactment of the Three Island Crossing on the second Saturday of August so you can get a feel for what those same pioneers experienced during the crossing.
Before heading up to the scenic overlook we had stopped at the Carmela Winery on Madison St. just up from the state park for wine tasting and lunch. The complex includes a bar, restaurant, the winery, a nine-hole golf course and a RV park. We sampled five different varieties of wine, from a riesling to a merlot, settling in the end on a bottle of Cabernet Franc and one called Old Table Sweet, a semi-dry red wine. Lunch on the deck overlooking part of the golf course consisted of a thick slice of prime rib and aged cheddar on a home-baked roll, garden salad with bleu cheese dressing for me, antipasto salad for Denny and cheese-broccoli soup for both of us for $20. It was delicious! Carmela Winery is definitely a hidden gem and we highly recommend it for the meal and the wines.
Whew! This was a long one today. Did you hang in there with me?
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