Visiting the Silver Capital of the World

 Took a tour through a non working silver mine yesterday in Wallace, Idaho. Wallace is the silver capital of the world and it lies in a valley dubbed the Silver Valley as there are 30 active silver mines. One of those mines, the Lucky Friday, has the deepest shaft in North America at 9,600 feet below the surface.

Our tour guide through the Sierra mine was a miner for his career and we got to hear some of his stories along the way. His actual knowledge of mining as a profession enhanced the tour immensely.  We wandered around town after the tour a bit and poked in some shops but nothing tickled our fancy so we went back to Post Falls, Idaho and checked into our hotel. 

We met up with your John’s second cousin Tina and her daughter Madeleine and Madeline's new baby for dinner at a local pub. We caught up over food, drinks, and dessert. I of course put the baby to sleep. She is just the sweetest little thing. Tina also gave us pointers on the drive to Glacier today as the route we were planning is choked with several wildfires so was a no go. She also gave us directions to a local herd of big horn sheep that wander around like deer in people's yards! Fingers crossed I actually get to see some. I went to Sheep Meadow in Rocky Mountain National Park several times and never ever saw a peep of one. How dare they call it Sheep Meadow when there's no sheep! We will also see what we get to see in Glacier today and then hopefully climb an actual mountain tomorrow - Mt. Oberlin











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