The Old Idaho Penitentiary, Treasure Valley Dog Show and World Center for Birds of Prey - Boise, ID

We took a tour of the Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site. It cost $10 for admission. Finding the main building from the parking lot is a little tricky. The penitentiary opened in 1872 and closed in 1973. Some of the buildings were burned in a 1973 riot. The tour was interesting and was about an hour long. They also have a J. Curtis Earl Memorial Exhibit, which is one of the nation’s largest collections of historic arms and military memorabilia.  After the tour we looked at the military exhibit and then went in some of the buildings on our own that weren't included in the tour. We also watched a video in the main building about the Site. The Women's Ward is a small building outside of the fence, fenced off on its own.  The youngest inmate was a 10-year-old who served less than one year for killing a man. The oldest was an 81-year-old man who served 3 years for cattle rustling. Ten men were hanged, the last in 1957.  The longest sentence was 46 years. Over 500 attempted escapes, 90 got away. There were five major riots from 1935 - 1973. The most common crime for men was theft and for women was forgery.

 Solitary confinement, also known as “Siberia”.

The Women's Ward

Since it was free admission, I convinced Curt to go to the Treasure Valley Dog Show at Expo Idaho in northern Boise. I found it while checking to see if Boise had a fairgrounds to camp at, and this is where the dog show was. We watched some judging and some agility judging. I don’t know if these are professional dogs; some definitely needed training at listening to their handlers (or maybe the handlers needed training). I thought it was fun.

World Center for Birds of Prey started, I believe, with Peregrine falcons. They have worked with many different birds of prey and in different countries. It is home to the world's largest flock of captive California Condors. Condors produced there are released to the wild in the Grand Canyon. They have a flight program that we saw which included a Northern Aplomado Falcon, Harris’s Hawk, American Kestrel, Lanner Falcon, Eurasian Eagle-owl and a Taita Falcon. It was fun to watch and interesting how they train them. It cost $12 for us for admission, I had a coupon for $1.00 off for each of us. They have two live raptor webcams in spring; one of a Peregrine Falcon nest and one of an American Kestrel nest. Now, if I can remember that come spring!









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