From Brothers to Brothels

Whilst on vacation in Coeur D'Alene, the Bag Lady and her traveling companions took a little side trip one day and toured the area. They stopped first at an old Mission that has been restored. It was in a beautiful setting on a hill, and has been well-restored, with informative signs everywhere. Unfortunately for the Bag Lady's party, they arrived just as a group of university students was settling in for mass, so there was no chance to wander through the church and see the artifacts inside.

The Bag Lady did, however, hold her camera above the heads of the people going into the church and managed to snap this picture of the interior.



She also toured the parish house.


The priests had their own private altar for early mass in the parish house.


After an enjoyable hour touring the grounds of the Mission, the Bag Lady's party piled back into their vehicles and continued on their way south. They arrived in Wallace, Idaho just in time for a parade in their honour celebrating the Elks club.


After the parade, they wandered the streets of this picturesque little town, stopping here and there for a beer and checking out the little shops and bars along the way. One of the buildings looked interesting, so they wandered inside for a few minutes. It turned out to be a bordello that has been restored. The Bag Lady spoke for a few minutes to a lovely young woman behind the counter and discovered that the bordello had been in business for many, many years during the "boom time" when Wallace was a thriving mining town. It closed it's doors in the 1980's (1988?) because the FBI had come to town to investigate the crooked sheriff! The girls in the bordello thought they would only be gone for a few days, so left everything as it was and just locked the doors. Unfortunately, the FBI stayed around for three years, and the girls eventually drifted away to other, more prosperous locations, leaving groceries still in the bags on the counters, clothes in the closets, etc. There was an opportunity later in the day to take a tour of the upstairs of the building, but the Bag Lady's party went in search of more beer and did not return for the tour. This was the last picture she managed to take that day before the battery in her camera died.