Saturday, June 28, 2014

Couch Potato isn't a term that applies to us.

Guess which state we are visiting?


Take a look at the vanity license plate. You only get one guess. And no, Dan Quayle didn't get out of the car.

Here's a second clue: The convertible doesn't have its top down in mid-June, and the mountains across the valley still have snow and ski runs are green.
And the third guess: We're in the Sawtooth Mountains.
Actually, the above picture was taken in Ketchum ...


... And two days later Megan's having lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Park City. We still see tall mountains, snow and ski runs. But the mountain range has a totally different name - Wasatch Mountains.

And if we're eating a local state delicacy in Idaho, it has to be Idaho potatoes. It's what they do best, and they do it up good.



 
That day, our Idaho potatoes were produced by Thompson Farms in Pingree, Idaho, and sliced by Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Park City, Utah.

According to the Sun Valley Guide: "Since 1928, when Idaho first put the spud on its license plates, Idaho and potato have been synonymous the world over."

Potatoes are serious business in Idaho, and the sign on this building proclaims: Ashton Seed Potato Management Area. That means it controls viruses and fungi.

Isn't this a lovely homestead. I bet your eyes are drawn to the snow covered, jagged mountains. Just like in 1952 when Marilyn Monroe wore a burlap potato bag for "You’d look good even in a potato sack" shoot.

... Rather than the dilapidated sign that reads "tatoes." Darn, my eyes also jump to those mystical mountains.

This is called big business. Farmers grow potatoes in the desert, massive numbers of potatoes, mile-after-mile of neatly planted, straight rows that sometimes bend over the horizon. We can thank this farmer for our Fourth of July Ruffles potato chips.


Going back 100 years, here is a horse-drawn potato planter we found at Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a 2-man operation, with the first man driving the horses, and the second man sitting in this seat and making sure only one potato "eye" is planted in each hill.


We've joined the Sunday church crowd for lunch at Criswell's Trail's End at Ashton, Idaho. Looks like an outdoorsy restaurant, should we order bison or antelope or cantaloupe?

If we're in Idaho, we're eating the specialty of the house: Idaho twice baked potatoes, which came with a salad bar. Yes, that potato is loaded with bacon, cheese, sour cream, chives, butter and other seasonings.


Sorry Spuddy Buddy, I'm afraid I've finished off your friend. We'll leave you here to greet other guests as we hit the highway.

We're too excited on this vacation to be "Couch Potatoes." We found out later that term was created in 1976 by a cartoonist.

Megan and Dwain

You like potato and I like potahto
You like tomato and I like tomahto
Potato, potahto,
Tomato, tomahto.
Let's call the whole thing off ...

George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin - 1937

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