Winter Garden A Glow

It snowed maybe half and inch last night and the snow was all gone by this afternoon. I think this is more normal for Boise and so much for the severe weather. Cruiser and Spit were again mystified this morning and insisted on standing in the doorway to look at the snow, but they would not go out in it. Spit looks at me, then at the snow, then at me, then at the snow. It was way too cold to be standing with the door open, so I let them out front where they can stand on the porch and look and I can close the door. I stood outside with them in my pajamas and my coat and my boots (and my coffee). Fortunately it was still pretty dark.

Winter Garden A Glow was beautiful, but very cold. I wore the wrong gloves, the leather ones and not the new ones from Mom, and my hands were cold. We walked around and then I wrapped my hands around a cup of hot cider and stood under a heat lamp. I forgot my camera and honestly it is too big and bulky for this kind of thing, I do not know how I would have managed my SLR camera and my gloves, my puffy warm coat, my purse, my ticket. I already feel like a kid who needs all their stuff pinned to the inside of their coat.

They have 360 degree pictures on their site, which are probably better than any I could take anyway,
http://www.regal360.com/clients/aglow/index.html
If that does not work, go to the main site and click on the Virtual Tour,
http://www.idahobotanicalgarden.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_id=40

In the 3rd picture you can see the lighted cross on top of Table Rock, which reminds me of Simi Valley. The Boise Jaycees built the cross on government land in 1956. The Idaho Department of Lands transferred the land under the Table Rock cross to the Boise Jaycees in 1972 after the Jaycees became concerned that the existence of the cross on government land violated Idaho's Establishment Clause. The existence of the cross still endured a constitutional challenge in 1999. In response, the governor declared November 27, 1999 "Table Rock Cross Day," and ten thousand people marched down Capital Boulevard to support the cross.

Right next to the Winter Garden and below the cross is the Old Idaho Penitentiary, built in 1870 and used until 1973. All executions carried out at The Old Idaho Penitentiary were death by hanging and as late as 1957 Idaho's version of Jack the Ripper, Raymond Allen Snowden was hanged there. Previous inmates also include "Lady Bluebeard", or Lyda Southard, or Lyda Anna Mae Trueblood, one of Idaho's most prolific serial killers with the added distinction of being one of the first female serial killers. Christelle told me the stories, but she said we do not need to take a tour until summer. It's probably not so creepy in the summer.

For more old west and Old Idaho Penitentiary stories, here's a fun link,
http://www.thecabinet.com/darkdestinations/location.php?sub_id=dark_destinations&letter=o&location_id=old_idaho_penitentiary

This is a haunted places site and some claim Raymond Snowden haunts The Old Idaho Penitentiary. On Halloween you can go on a special night time tour and find out. You will have to go by yourself though, I'm not going.