Three Island Crossing

Today we drove back to Glenns Ferry, Idaho to attend the historic Three Island Crossing Reenactment. The first known pioneer crossing was in 1843. From 1843-1866, more than 350,000 pioneers would travel along the Oregon Trail and over 50,000 would navigate the Snake River at the Three Island Crossing.

Once a year, for 22 years in a row now, they gather up the horses, covered wagons, and down the mountain they come to cross the river for all to watch.

You can barely see them here, but they are just getting into the Snake River. All public school 4th graders in Idaho have to take a year long Idaho history class, which I think is ridiculous, especially for military families, but we are going to take advantage and learn some high points while we are here. We are going to do a unit on the Oregon Trail and today was the start! We are going to venture to Baker City, Oregon, follow the trail, see the museums, etc.
A few years ago, after the drowning of a horse, the organizers of this event got together with the Idaho power company and they lower the water level on this day for a "safer" crossing. The kids thought this was cheating since the real pioneers had the cross the real thing!
Truly, though the history is interesting and stories captivating, this was a real disappointment. Because of all the fires in Idaho, over half of the crossing team, horses, Indians and wagons were not able to make it. So all we got for all that driving, the admission fee, the heat, and the time, was 10 minutes of what you see in these pictures. All the kids were like, "THAT"S IT???!!"



We still learned a lot, and had a good time with friends. Here is Kaitlynn with Alice.

Collin and KitKat with Morgan Conrow, our next door neighbor.
If there are horses to be found, Kaitlynn will find a way to be there! This was the lead horse with the wagon-master.
Gotta love this one!
After it was over, we went to the main shin-dig for lunch, a look at the few crafts and then sat and enjoyed the live entertainment; Country music, fiddle players and the all time favorite, CLOGGERS!
After the cloggers were done, we couldn't find the girls. They were all in the covered wagon clogging for all they were worth!
It was still a beautiful day to be out, a COOL 97 with a breeze, big blue sky, music, horses and cloggers. A perfect Saturday morning! :-)
I almost forgot one of the best parts....Huckleberry ice cream!!!!!!!