Chesterfield, Idaho

Wednesday morning, we packed up and cleaned the house.  Before heading back to Brigham, we decided to follow the Old Oregon Trail and visit Chesterfield, a historic pioneer town.  We loaded up in the cars and started on our way.  Right as we were turning to go on the main road out of town, we looked back and saw that Grandma wasn't with us.  We gave her a call and she said that she had lost the keys to her car.  We all turned back around to help in the search.  Twenty-two people got out of the cars and turned the house upside down looking for her keys.  They were nowhere to be found.  Our last resort was to check the garbage.  We thumbed through it a bit and then decided to take it out piece by piece and transfer it to another bag so we wouldn't miss anything.  Carrie and I were going through the first bag and right at the bottom of the bag was the jingling of keys!  We were so lucky we didn't make it to the dumpster with all that trash!  So we were off to Chesterfield . . .

The pioneers settled this town back in the early 1900's and some of the building were still standing.  It was a quaint little place and the people there were happy to give us a walking tour of the homes, log store, and museum.  The first top was the Barlow Log Store where everybody played with the limberjacks, ate peanuts, drank a sarsparilla, and picked out a bag of their favorite kind of candy.  

Carlee and Tyler eating peanuts

Megan trying to balance her sarsparilla

MMMM!  That's good stuff!

Carlee and Owen checking out their candy

The whole crew

After hearing about some of the town's history at the store, we started on a walking tour to visit the original homes that were built by the pioneers that settled the area.  One house had a living room/parlor, small kitchen, and bedroom for the parents and nine children.  It was unbelievably tiny and I can't imagine that many people living in that small house.  I am so spoiled to be living in this day and age where we can have everything we want and need with lots of extras.  I never would have made it as a pioneer.  It was very humbling to see how they lived and the hard work and sacrifice they gave for that way of life. 

The stove and oven (Clark is laying on the only bed in the next room)

The parlor or living room area

The kitchen table with a storage cabinet and the refrigerator to the left.  The bathtub was on the floor next to the white storage cabinet in the corner. 

There were no public restrooms anywhere so the kids enjoyed using the outhouses scattered around the town.  (At least the boys did.  The girls had a different idea of them.)

One of the bigger homes had a large loft in the attic where the children slept and played.  It was very similar to "Little House on the Prairie".  The kids loved climbing up the ladder and playing in the "fort".

I can't believe I got a picture of Owen wearing that outfit!  We were so embarrassed to have him walking around with us ;)  Luckily he is dang cute or we would have left him. 

Tommy and Jake taking a rest

Some worn-out boys

After our tour of the town, we stopped for lunch at Subway and A&W and headed back to Brigham to rejuvenate for the rest of the week's activities.