An early one today.  We are up at 5:30 heading to Bear Lake NWR to see who is hanging out in this huge bullrush marsh.  We take the auto loop, there are mosquitos here too.  We spot the usual wetland suspects, redwing blackbirds, the slightly less frequent yellow headed blackbird, coots, mallards and a couple osprey.  It is a breeding area for coots and ibis as well as for Canada geese and mallards.  There are plenty of mommies with their broods trailing behind.  Nothing spectacular but a nice morning.

We swing through Paris, ID and check out the 1889 LDS Tabernacle and a number of historic buildings along Main Street.   One of the buildings houses Donut El Camino.  We just have to stop.  Tin ceiling, a beautiful old hardwood floor, and at least three woodburning stoves (none are needed today) make for a wonderfully laid-back place to hang out.  The donuts and coffee make it well worth the stop.   It appears the proprietors live in an open upstairs loft.

Then comes the history part, The Oregon/California Trail Center in Montpelier.  The main floor is devoted to the story of those who traveled through Idaho on this trail.  The count was around 450000 persons between 1840s and 1870s, 10% didn’t make it.  In a small-scale indoor re-enactment, a wagon driver and two young women travelers tell the story of hardship and perseverance.  Well done.

Upstairs we find the work of local artisans on display and for sale.  There is a large quilt show going on as well.  What a wonderful space to showcase their work.

The lower floor is a classic small-town museum like those we have seen all across the country.  It is filled with stuff people kept and donated or loaned to represent their home town, Montpelier (Oregon Trail stop Clover Creek). As always, it’s fun to check it out.

We are heading out and a fellow steps out of the back kitchen to say, “let me show you something.”  He leads us into this cool event space.  Booths are set up as covered wagons and set in a circle.  Each wagon has a screen where they project photos telling the story of the trail journey.  They routinely entertain tour buses but also host local events of all sorts.  It looks like it could be a fun space.  He is obviously very proud of it.

Today, an Idaho traffic jam.  A herd of sheep is lounging in the shade along the gravel forest route not far from camp.   Fortunately; they and their trusty herd dog (a somewhat scruffy looking Great Pyrenees) are very interested in shade.  They are mostly roadside and we are able to get by without much difficulty while only slightly disturbing the dog.  Parked mostly out of sight, we spot a home-made trailer/shack on wheels that we saw much further out in the forest yesterday.  We surmise they are all coming down for shearing or counting or heaven forbid, culling.  There are lots of lambs.