We ate breakfast at the campsite and then drove 15 minutes to Minidoka National Monument. When we got there, the short film about the encampment was playing so we saw 3/4 of the film and then took the 1.5 hour tour. The boys asked the tour guide/park ranger a few good questions and we learned a lot such as:

- President Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, which mandates all Japanese-Americans living in the west coast to be moved to encampments within the US.

- The Japanese-Americans were given between 6 weeks to 6 days to get their property sold or ask someone to watch it for them, to pack and say good-bye.

- They did not know when they would return or where they were going.

- Those with 1/16th Japanese heritage were considered Japanese, which could is about 5 generations back. The government probably got this information from the census.

- The government froze Japanese-American bank accounts and any Japanese bank branches in the US.

- One Japanese encampment was made on an Indian Reservation.

- The government opened schools in the relocation encampments and taught democracy, etc.

There is so much more that we learned. It is a subject that I plan to continue to learn more about. I met a lady on the tour and she said her mom and her mom's family (parents, siblings, cousins) were all put in relocation encampments and they never talked about it to her. It was extremely emotional. The lady's mom was 12 years old and her cousins were 3 and 4 years old when they entered the encampments.

The boys completed the Junior Ranger program here and the ranger even taught them a little origami. The place was full of history and was really a great educational experience.

Then we drove to Hagerman Fossil Bed National Monument and completes the Junior Ranger Program there. It was a small place but we still learned a little.

While in Hagerman, Liam saw they were having a car show and he said he had always wanted to see one so we walked over to the car show and walked around. Liam liked looking at the older cars.

Afterwards we drove to a scenic overlook and saw the Oregon Trail ruts. Then we drove back to the campsite and stopped to see the bridge in Idaho Falls. At the campsite, the boys fixed and ate their dinner why I did laundry then we took showers and went to bed.