Today's Potatoes are from: Blackfoot, Idaho

I was out shopping today and I stopped by Five Guys on PCH for a burger.  The potato board said that today's potatoes are from Blackfoot.  I wonder how many customers at that store sit there reminiscing about good old Blackfoot.  I wonder how many even realize that Blackfoot is the home of the World Potato Expo.  Somewhere around here is a photo of me posing before the giant baked potato that is in front of that building.  There is something truly wonderful about a giant sculptural ode to a potato.

Back in the day they had "free taters for out of staters".  All you had to do was pull up in a car with something other than Idaho plates and you could either get raw potatoes to go, or you could go in and enjoy a baked spud with the toppings of your choice.  They were beauties too.  You could make a whole meal out of them.  I understand that they don't do that anymore, although they still have the best darn potato museum I've ever seen.  They even have a potato cellar area where you can go and inside and smell what they smell like.  You see these cellars all over Idaho.  They look like big grass covered burial mounds, except that they have doors.  They are really quite amazing.  I used to work with a guy from Blackfoot and he had all sorts of crazy stories about working with potatoes.

I also understand that Beader's Paradise is closed.  That was a great place.  They had millions of beads.  The store was so large and so packed with stuff that when you came in they handed you a little stack of leather pieces to drop on the floor so you could find your way back to whatever you were looking at.  It was also housed in an old honky tonk with a giant metal cowgirl out front.  She was getting a little rusty the last time I saw her, but hey... it's a giant metal cowgirl.  Technically Beader's Paradise was on the outskirts of Blackfoot.  If you wanted to shop there you had to plan carefully.  Their hours of operation were something like: Mondays from 3pm to 7pm, the second and third Wednesdays from 10am to 1pm, etc.  Some of it had to do with when beaders from the Indian reservation would be in town to shop.  Some of it was just weird.  It's a shame it closed down.  It was a great place to wander around.

Points to mention in case you are having trouble convincing your family that they want to go there:

• You will be able to see the world's largest potato chip
• You can learn about Dan Quayle and why he had to apologize to Idaho (you can see the actual apology letter)

Yes, my mind was filled with thoughts of potato grandeur as I sat waiting for my burger.  So much so that the girl had to call my number three times before I heard her.  I apologized and told her that I was off in my own little world.  I didn't mention that it was a world of giant baked potatoes and cowgirls.