K’den, let’s start off with a video this time. We’re heading makai over Lookout Pass, almost to Wallace, Idaho.  Gosh, seeing these videos again makes me long for another road trip!

Wallace has a very interesting past. Try look here.  And read this:

Danger, intrigue, passion, great wealth, heroics and comedy are set against the breathtaking backdrop of northern Idaho’s Bitterroot mountains. Those are the elements of the 12 decade story of Wallace. The entire town of Wallace, Idaho is on the national Historic Register.

Imagine that. The entire town, every single building, is a treasure. Which is why we wanted to take a quick peek through the town.

Here’s the main street where we came into town.

I love these old buildings! Already I was jazzed, and we’d barely gotten into town.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it before (I think I might have), but I absolutely adore hardware stores!  Especially old ones like this one. I love the old wooden floors, I love the shelves of interesting tools and hardware, and I especially love the non-modern atmosphere of them. I usually don’t even suggest to Nolemana that we stop; he has learned that it’s a given.

Okay, barring an earthquake, which would dump me down into the street, this is the kind of place where I’d love to live for awhile. Look how it juts out over the rest of the building! A turret room; I could be the princess in there.

The smoke house. We didn’t stop there. LOL. But I loved the look of the building.

Try look the old mining car out front! Inside the building, people can buy tickets for a mine tour. I’m too claustrophobic to do anything lidat, but I think Nolemana woulda.

See ‘way down at the end of the street? I’m pretty sure that’s a (very steep) walkway up to the mine.

Rooms for rent here.

“‘This used to be a pretty wild place,” said the mayor. “‘Good Lord, probably every building with an upstairs once was a whorehouse. People ought to be interested in seeing that, don`t you think?'”

The last brothel closed in 1990.

This is the Wallace Railroad Museum. I really wanted to take a look inside, but it was too late in the day.

I wish we’d gotten into town earlier so that we’d had time to explore some of these shops.

We were driving through the town, meandering back and forth through the streets.  And try look: there’s my princess tower from a different angle!  And, if you wanted to buy any mining stocks, there’s the Pennaluna & Co Mining Stocks building.

Oh my gosh! Another tower, this one at the Mining Museum. Ummm… do you suppose that’s where the ladies of the night stood, enticing customers to come upstairs? It’s a pretty perfect location for that. (I like my princess room idea moa betta.)

Well, guess what?  We found one store still open. For only about another thirty minutes. So we pulled over. The other reason we decided to go here was the address was the same as my birthday. Buwaaaahhaaaa…

Wallace, Idaho

We’ll go inside the store next time. I don’t want to post too many photos all at once, just in case anybody stay on dial-up.