Idaho genealogy jackpot

Can you believe it's been 29 days since we started this adventure?  If you recall, the plan was to trace and discover some of my father's ancestors and their stories.  After visiting the county records office yesterday, I have to admit that I was disappointed.  But today we went to the office for St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Coeur d'Alene where I had the pleasure of meeting Sue Schmidt.  This kind lady found for me the baptism records for my father and most of his siblings, as well as the burial records for my uncles.  I also discovered in the church records that grandpa Ramey wasn't Catholic -- how about that?  Each of the baptismal records (written of course in Latin) showed the notation beside his name "acatholicus."  Curiouser and curiouser...

We left the church and went downtown for lunch.  We found a fantastic restaurant, Artisian Pizza, that was decorated like a New York loft.  Very cool.  And the food was great!  We strongly recommend this restaurant for the decor, the service, and the great food!  We really like the city and may come back for vacation one day.

Back to genealogy, it occurred to us that maybe land records could give us some interesting insights into family stories.  So we retraced our steps back to the county records office and looked at the really cool old leather-bound records books of land transfers.  And BINGO we found the record of grandpa buying the land to build their home in Coeur d'Alene in 1920, and the clerk said the house still stands.  Turns out that when we drove by to shoot a few pictures, the owner of the house was outside doing yard work.  He rents the place out and was between tenants so he took us inside.  I just ate it up!  Of course, the house has been changed over the years, adding stucco over the original clapboard siding and extending the rear of the house.  But still, I could imagine my dad's chubby toddler knees on the wood floors.  I always pictured their home as a rustic cabin sort of place, but this house is in town, just down the street from St. Thomas church.  Wow!  And to think that just last night I was ready to leave town early.  Thank you, my love, for convincing me to stay.

Street art -- an elk!

As close as I'm getting

Just one of many cool old cars