When our friend Linda, Mom, and I made plans to go to Idaho City on Memorial Day Monday, I suggested we have a picnic in John Brogan Park in order for us to bring our dogs Loki and Katie and let them have a run around the park and us to enjoy the day.
John Brogan Park is located on Montgomery and Commercial Streets and was established by the Idaho City Foundation in 1960. It is an outdoor park and museum with exhibits of old mining equipment and buildings dating from Idaho City's mining heyday in the late 19th century.
Picnic tables were all over the park for our dining pleasure, and there is a creek that Loki and Katie discovered right away and dove in to cool off before we got our coolers out of the car. Mom and I were dreading the idea of having to bathe the two Pig Pens since the water was muddy and colored rust from the pipes that went into the creek. But that didn't phase Loki and Katie, who would lay down in the water and enjoy their mud bath before getting tied to a couple of trees so that we could eat dinner.
Dogs tied up and looking like urchins, Mom, Linda, Rita, and I dug into our picnic lunch of homemade BBQ chicken, coleslaw, pasta salad, avocados, and cookies. Several times, Loki and Katie broke off their leashes and went and growled at Rita's dog Malachai or went to check out the big family of picnickers at the other tables. "Yogi Bear wouldn't be able to get in here without these guys around," I quipped after one of Loki's escapes.
The first time I came to John Brogan Park, it was wintertime, and snow prevented me from exploring the Miner's Cabin and old mining equipment more in depth. Now, in late spring, I was able to explore the Miner's Cabin and equipment. The Miner's Cabin and other equipment have been moved to John Brogan Park from other parts of town after they became obsolete.
"People must have been shorter in the 19th century," Mom said as she got a closer look at the miner's cabin. "It looks claustrophobic without windows," I said, but Mom saw that there were two tiny windows on a closer look at the place. 
Inside the cabin (you can only see it through the window on the side) was a bed, a table, and a wood stove in rough shape, but it gave us an idea of how rough the miners had it in the 19th century.
The Idaho City Firehouse is a very tiny building that used to be located on the hill above Idaho City. The old location gave the firemen a running start to fires with their hose truck.
John Brogan Park is open every day, sunrise to sunset, and is free of charge to picnic and relax in or to see the sights within.