Schoolday routines will arrive soon enough, so be certain your family gets out to savor the final days of summer.

Forget those high gas prices - the Times-News sent reporters to all corners of south-central Idaho to scout for adventures close to home.

Today, we tour a collection of intriguing historical museums. Each of them has something surprisingly different to offer, so gather up your whole family for a trip into the past. It's a fine way to pack in some fun while priming young brains to learn.

Our "Get Out" series will run every Sunday through Sept. 7, and each week we'll give you the lowdown on a different kind of adventure. Next Sunday, watch for our reviews of some of the region's prime parks.

Twin Falls County Historical Museum

There's plenty to see at the Twin Falls County Historical Museum, from a huge collection of hats to the rusty but popular agricultural implements.

But among the most engrossing is a diorama of Chinese gold miners living in the Snake River Canyon. Accompanying the scene are late-1800s artifacts - ceramics, opium paraphernalia, mining tools like a scale pan and rock drill bits - and explanations of the conditions and prejudice the Chinese faced in southern Idaho.

Administrator Darleen Porter's favorite museum piece is a poem on a framed piece of driftwood. Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, visiting Blue Lakes in July 1897 as a guest of I.B. Perrine, dictated the poem to his wife as they gazed at Shoshone Falls. You're welcome to pick up the scrap of wood and read the verses on the back.

The museum's newest acquisitions are a U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps uniform worn by a Twin Falls woman in 1943, and a handmade quilt from 1926 sewn by founders of the Morningside Club, a Twin Falls humanitarian group. Look for distinctive emblems on the uniform's shoulder and cape collar, and search for family names you recognize among the quilt's embroidered signatures.

Most of the museum's exhibits rotate; an exception is the permanent military display. If you don't spot what you're most interested in, ask museum workers to bring it out of storage.

"We can't possibly display everything at once," Porter said.

A massive inventory is in progress, as well as a database of Magic Valley obituaries and the indexing of more than a century of local newspapers. By fall, expect to see a more organized display of vintage farm machinery with better explanatory signs, thanks to an Eagle Scout project.

Get there: 21337-A U.S. Highway 30; that's near Curry Crossing, halfway between Twin Falls and Filer. Information: 736-4675.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, or by appointment. Open year-round.

Cost: Free, but donations are accepted.

Don't miss: Visiting with youngsters? At the museum desk, pick up a treasure hunt that helps kids (even adults) engage with the exhibits. The museum has three versions of the hunt, to accommodate multiple children or multiple visits for your family.

- Virginia Hutchins

Hagerman Valley Historical Society

Visit the Hagerman Valley Historical Society's one-room museum on a summer afternoon and you're likely to be greeted by M.J. Freeman, a founder of the society and now a director.

"We aren't large, but we're mighty," Freeman says, tipping her head back for emphasis on the final word. Why mighty? "We've been here for 25 years - started with nothin'," she explains.

Everything was donated: the needlework, the arrowheads, the heavy sad irons, the pump organ, the miner's pick and shovel. The handwritten patterns for delicate knitting. The wedding dress sewn from a World War II parachute. The oxen yoke left near Thousand Springs by pioneers who crossed the river on a ferry.

A lot of the treasures have a vaguely faded, dusty look, labeled with little typewritten signs that look years old. They come alive, however, when visitors climb the steps.

On a recent afternoon, Robert Christensen of New Plymouth stared disbelievingly at early-1900s photographs of anglers posing with their 1,500-pound Snake River sturgeon. "How did he ever get it out of the water?"

Randy Hesterlee of Spring Creek, Nev., contemplated a model of the pneumatic-hydraulic pump that - without electricity or moving transmission parts - lifted Thousand Springs water from the Snake River Canyon walls to a farm above the rim.

"It's actually kind of a simple principle, but how you dreamt it up …," Hesterlee's voice trailed off. "Makes you wonder why we don't use it now."

Get there: 100 S. State St., Hagerman. Look for a historical brick building with a lava foundation, constructed in 1909 as a bank. Information: 837-6288.

Hours: Noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Cost: Admission is free, but you may donate.

Don't miss: All those faded little signs. An old saddle looks like just an old saddle until you read the explanation: A young ferry operator drowned crossing the Snake River on horseback at night in the late 1800s. His horse returned to the barn with this empty saddle.

- Virginia Hutchins

Minidoka County Historical Society museum, Rupert

You might not expect to find information on World War II in a tiny museum in southern Idaho.

But at the Minidoka County Historical Society's museum, you'll get just that. Minidoka County was home to an Axis prisoner-of-war camp and helped manage Hunt Camp, the Japanese internment camp. Both ran until the end of the war.

You won't find much in the displays about the wars, so ask an employee for access to the World War II documents. In them, you'll find a 1943 yearbook from Hunt High School, filled with smiling faces of imprisoned Japanese-American high schoolers. And take time to read the brief memoir of Fritz Graf, a German soldier who spent time at the POW camp outside Paul. Graf recalls Idaho as "a lovely part of the world" with "a superb climate," "charming countryside" and "most intriguing farms."

Also displayed in the back room are 30,000-year-old bison, horse and camel bones, all found in Minidoka County. The same room houses American Indian pottery, tools and a traveling Lewis and Clark display on loan from the Boise historical society.

The museum is remodeling, but don't be scared away. The treasures are in the back room.

Get there: 99 East Baseline, one mile east of Rupert. Information: 436-0336.

Hours: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Cost: Free, but donations are appreciated.

Don't miss: A conversation with employee Anne Schenk. A chat with Schenk reveals so much more about Idaho history than is offered in the displays.

- Melissa Davlin

Cassia County Museum, Burley

Besides the pioneer dresses and tools typical of Western historical museums, Cassia County Museum offers a realistic glimpse into early Idaho life with a cabin, general store and barber shop.

If the buildings are locked, ask the volunteer inside for help. Then take your time browsing the humble buildings.

The one-room cabin with the dirt floor shows the stark lifestyle of Cassia County settlers. A feel of the straw mattress will make you grateful for your Serta. Sit awhile in the classroom with uncomfortable wooden seats and imagine spending a schoolday crammed in the single room. Suddenly, public schools don't seem so bad.

After you're done, take a look inside the museum's main building. Newspaper clippings, old high school photos, and a scary-looking hairdresser's chair await visitors who are interested in stepping back in time.

Get there: The corner of Hiland and Main Street in Burley. Information: 678-7172.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Season is April 1 through Oct. 1.

Cost: Free, but donations are appreciated.

Don't miss: Taking a peek inside the general store. It's fun to compare the products, cash register and scale to our modern goods.

- Melissa Davlin

Blaine County Historical Museum, Hailey

This museum is deceptive.

The front makes you believe it's the size of someone's parlor, but that first room gives way to extensive and nicely displayed collections of period clothing, housewares, even one of Hailey's first Ford cars.

Each display - including a kitchen, a post office and a schoolroom - is set apart in a three-sided room, separating the detailed scenes.

The star of this show, though, is a collection of political paraphernalia, mostly pins and buttons. It's the second largest in the U.S., after that at the Smithsonian. The Joe Fudd collection is named after a man who moved to Hailey in 1881 and began stockpiling buttons around 1900 - it even includes the top hat he'd wear around town.

"I used to see him wearing that felt hat, walking down the street," said Marilyn Moore, a museum docent.

She has a personal connection to one of the exhibits: a baby's white lace dress was hand-tatted by her great-grandmother, and is accompanied by side-by-side photos of herself and her grandmother wearing the tiny garment.

If you're not engrossed by the front rooms of the museum, the back has a small replica of a mine, complete with tools found following the area's abandoning of mining in the 1950s.

Get there: 218 N. Main St., Hailey. Information: 788-1801.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. The museum closes each year after the annual Trailing of the Sheep - this year on Oct. 10-12 - and reopens in May.

Cost: Free. Donations are appreciated.

Don't miss: Ski gear from back when grey wool jumpsuits were state-of-the-art, including Ann-Jeannette Winn's outfit as a 1960 Olympics ski-team alternate.

- Ariel Hansen

Jerome County Historical Museum

The Jerome historical museum may not be the biggest or best organized of those in the eight-county area, but it certainly has some charms.

One of those is a nearly complete collection of local newspapers for the past century - a few early issues are missing, but those might get filled in with the recently donated archives of the North Side News.

This, along with a catalog of births, weddings and deaths, makes the Jerome museum a great place for genealogical and family history research.

"We have an awful lot of people come in for that, and we have e-mails from all over the U.S.," said Dale Cooper, who volunteers at the museum. Nearby, a sleek computer system sits ready to take oral histories.

Other unusual exhibits at the museum include one on the Minidoka Relocation Center and the regional consequences of the Carey Irrigation Act.

Get there: 220 N. Lincoln St. in Jerome, next to the Jerome Public Library. Information: 324-5641.

Hours: 1-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; closed Sunday, Monday and holidays.

Cost: Free.

Don't miss: There have been three Miss Rodeo America winners from Jerome, more than any other Idaho city: Joni James Smith in 1990, Lana Brackenbury Parker in 1971 and Karen Lavens James in 1962. The museum has photos and memorabilia from all three winning ladies.

- Ariel Hansen