How the State of Idaho Stole Christmas

Leave it to the government to close a gift shop just before Christmas.  This year, I decided I wanted to send Idaho-centered gifts to the family.  I made my first stop at a popular restaurant, which has a gift shop.  You can buy local sauces and outdoor-themed travel mugs and clothing.  There wasn’t much on the shelves, aside from some children’s pajamas and some bear paw slippers.  I noticed some of the wait staff wearing hooded sweatshirts and inquired how I could buy some.  I was given a web address.  When I got home, I looked up the gift shop.  It sells gift cards.  For use when dining.  It won’t help relatives who live two-thousand miles away.

I miss the old Idaho store at the Magic Valley Mall.  A quick search of the web shows there are current locations in Pocatello and Boise.  I’m not scheduled to get to either one of those places soon.

Gee, Let's Close Just Before Christmas

I did find a link for the gift shop at the State Capitol.  Click here and you can see my disappointment.  “The online Capitol Gift Shop is currently being remodeled,” it explains.  You’re telling me that the website is down 17 days before Christmas?  Government bureaucrat is a synonym for inefficiency.  Can someone pass me my blood pressure medicine?

If I’m buying Idaho-themed gifts, I want to buy them from someone in Idaho.

Amazon Isn't Staffed by Bureaucrats

With time running out on presents arriving before Christmas, I typed Idaho into the search bar on Amazon.  While we have an Amazon center in the Treasure Valley, I’m not sure if the products I found are from here.  But I ordered some hooded sweatshirts because there was a promise they would arrive well before Christmas.  I surely didn't do it out of loyalty to Jeff Bezos!