Idaho

  Idaho, along with Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Montana, are my favorite states. That is not to say I do not like other states, because I do. But these four states are my absolute favorites of all the states I have been in.
  Idaho is a state with a name that was made up. The word was invented by United States Senator Henry Wilson, from Massachusetts. When Congress was debating whether or not they should carve a new territory out of what is now Idaho in the 1860s, Wilson said "Idaho" is an English derivation" of either "E-dah-hoe" or
"E-dah-how," which was supposedly a Shoshone Indian word that meant "the sun comes from the mountains " or "gem of the mountains."
  Idaho Territory was created in 1863 and what named because of Wilson's suggestion because other members of Congress liked the name.  For about one hundred years, the name origin was accepted and was taught in schools. Then research was done and it was discovered to be a fictitious name. Even after the research into the name was done, it was pretty much known only to Idahoans that the name was fictitious. The rest of the country did not find out for at least another decade.
  Yet a member of the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe of northern Idaho said once that their language has a word "Ah-d'Hoo" which means "greetings by surprise." So there may be some substance to Henry Wilson's name after all, the jury is still out. It seems that Wilson might have invented the word but he based it on an Indian word he had heard.
  The state's biggest county is called Idaho County and it received its name about a year before the territory did. The county was named after a steamship, the U.S.S. Idaho, but it is unclear where that name came from.
The state of Colorado was almost named "Idaho" when Congress was debating making it in to a territory. There is a town west of Denver is called Idaho Springs because someone heard about what Henry Wilson said the name meant.
  I will now blog about Idaho for quite some time. I will start in the northern part of the state, which I have visited once and then "move" to the south, which I have visited three times, although many of the places in the south I only saw once. It is a state that I would dearly love to explore again and again because it is so stunningly beautiful, but it is also one of the most pristine, untouched states.