We were wondering what the Little Mail Carriers had been up to lately, when we received this exciting missive all the way from Idaho! Their host lydacher did a thorough job of spoiling the little guys with splendid views and lots of fun activities! If there was any doubt that the Little Mail Carriers have all the fun…
Hello everyone! Late last year we traveled to Idaho, the U.S. state famous for its extensive wilderness areas, winter sports, and… potatoes.
When we arrived, our mail carrier, Jason, drove us in his truck to Old Town Pocatello. Then he walked us up a hill to our host’s house.
Our host Cheryl (aka lydacher) was in the midst of holiday preparations, so we jumped right in to help! The biscotti were divine – but diving in the chocolate chips was one of our favorite parts…
We were welcomed by the dollhouse family and shown to the guest room. As mail carriers, we had no trouble making friends with the family dog.
The next morning, we ventured out into the snow. We’d brought our bicycle, but the snow was too deep, so the dollhouse family loaned us their 4-wheeler.
Wheeeeeee!
Oops! Ouch… Are you ok, Little Paulo? Maybe that’s enough snow for one day…
While we dried our clothes and took a rest, our host gave us some facts about Idaho, which has only 1.5 million people living in an area of 219,887 square kilometres. Much of that area is designated wilderness, where motorized travel is prohibited. Idaho has more miles of rivers than any of the other contiguous U.S. states and several mountain ranges that include at least 9 peaks that are more than 12,000 feet (3.6576 kilometres) above sea level.
To take a break from all the snow, we warmed up in Lava Hot Springs, a short drive out of the city. These pools are fed by natural underground hot springs and are most popular during the winter, when the freezing air meets the 110° Fahrenheit (or 43° Celsius) water and creates an outdoor sauna.
The next morning, we looked through our host’s postcard collection, which she keeps in notebooks and special boxes, filed by country and theme. We learned that she has taught classes about Postcrossing through New Knowledge Adventures, a continuing education program offered by Idaho State University.
She makes children’s mobiles from some of the colorful postcards she receives, and she also made a platform for an electric train for us to ride with our Lego friends – complete with scenic postcards that reflect the views we should see from a real train. How cool is that?! :D
We helped our host select postcards to send and accompanied her to the post office. Postman Rocky sold us stamps and weighed us on his postage scale. Rocky told us that we weigh about the same as a first-class letter!
Bidding Rocky goodbye, we drove back toward the hills on the west side of the city. We’d taken our bicycle along to do some trail-biking… but instead we just sat on a split-rail fence, watching the trains in the valley below us.
The view was just breathtaking!
During the week, we also visited some museums that are uniquely Idaho. The Museum of Natural History at Idaho State University features an exhibit of prehistoric whorl-tooth shark (Helicoprion) fossils found in Idaho.
Idaho is sometimes called the “Potato State, ” owing to its popular and widely-distributed crop. The Idaho Candy Company makes an “Idaho Spud” candy bar that resembles a potato, and there’s even a Potato Museum that houses the world’s largest potato crisp!
We were invited to some holiday parties where we were welcomed by friends of all ages and got to hang out in the decorations!
And of course, we met some Idaho cats. This photo is for all those postcrossers who love cat postcards! :)
Year 2013 is over, and it’s time to bid our host goodbye… Happy New Year 2014 from Idaho!
Thank you so much lydacher for this amazing stay! On they go!
The little guys are currently looking for hosts for the next months, so if you’ve got a camera and some free time to show them around, leave a comment and we’ll get in touch! :)
