It has been a while since we have had cell service at camp and for the record, wifi at most camping / RV sites is spotty at best, so it has been difficult to get our blog posts out at a regular interval. We have also been exploring as much as we can for the past few weeks so there has been very little downtime to write and post to the www. Here is a quick update on our time in Boise.
When we left Pendleton Oregon and made our way to Boise Idaho, it was a really fascinating driving through areas that we had never seen before and it was so therapeutic just taking in all the scenery as we drove. We saw a couple of interesting signs along the way to Idaho on highway 84. One said “You are halfway between the North Pole and the Equator” and the other said “You are entering Mountain Time Zone”. Perhaps these signs are seen by many people every day on the regular are no different than seeing a stop sign to them, but for a couple on their first journey across the county, they were pretty cool to see.
Not sure if “drive lag” is a thing or not… like jet lag, but we certainly had a hard time adjusting to the new time zone. We consistently woke up at 6:30am every day when we were in the Pacific time zone but once we entered Mountain time zone we were finding it difficult to wake up earlier than 8am which lasted for several days. The other interesting thing is that our phones did not automatically adjust to the new time zone like they do when you fly, so we are having to manually adjust the time zone on our phones each time we enter a new time zone.
The drive to Boise only took about 4 hours. After several stops, we have definitely gotten better at camp set up as it only took us 20 minutes this time. Boise Riverside RV Park is just outside of Boise in the town of Garden City. Not too much to say about this campground as we really didn’t spend much time there at all. There are a few highlights though. The Boise River Greenbelt bike path runs right by the park and bike rentals are available at the office, the Boise River is a short walk from camp with several pathways leading to the river to explore the area, there is a laundry room that is conveniently open 24 hours, there are horseshoe pits, a community BBQ area and propane is also available on site.
One of the first things we did after setting up was take a quick hike down to the river to check it out and scope out a place to relax and fish which we managed to do a couple of times while we were there. After a quick tour of the area, we drove into Boise to meet up with one of Kandace’s best friends who flew in to town to spend the week with us and to celebrate Kandace’s birthday. It was a nice break to be able to spend some time in a house, cook in a regular kitchen and do our laundry and such. This was a friendly reminder of all the conveniences of home that we gave up to go on this trip and it was also a reminder that no matter how difficult giving up these conveniences might seem, it certainly isn’t something we can’t handle.
We spent 6 nights in Boise and did a lot of exploring around town. We found that the streets are incredibly clean and it was nice to see that there are not very many homeless people living in the area. There are so many things to do and experience each place we visit and just not enough time to see it all, and we typically have a mix of checking things out based on recommendations from friends, letting plans develop on the fly and making an extra effort to go see something special. Here is a quick list of things we experienced while in Boise.
Hikes:
Military Reserve – easy to moderate hikes that allow dogs. There is an on leash and off leash dog trail too. Fantastic views of downtown and local snow topped mountains from the high points of the trials.
There are tons of hikes and trails but this is the only one we visited.
Restaurants:
Alavita – Authentic Italian food. They make fresh pasta everyday. Great menu and craft cocktails. This is where we celebrated Kandace’s birthday.
Fork – We didn’t eat here but sat at the bar and had a couple of drinks. Great atmosphere and cool spot right downtown.
Stella’s – Great place for ice cream with several fun flavors – they even have vegan options!
Moxie Java – We were excited to try a different coffee chain other than Starbucks and Peet’s…. but we weren’t impressed. So far we have preferred the random mom and pop coffee shop if we can’t find a bucks or Peet’s.
Shopping:
Mixed Greens – fantastic gift shop with just about everything you can think of from gift cards to housewares.
Bars/Breweries:
Boise Brewing Company – Small space downtown to grab a good craft beer. I say good because we still haven’t found a place that compares to California or Oregon when it comes to tasty craft beers.
Clairvoyant – A bit of a drive outside of town but they have a large patio for grabbing a cold brew on a sunny day.
Jumpin Janet’s – Fun dive bar with pool and darts. They have a bunch of inspirational signs throughout the bar as well 😊
Day Trip:
Bruneau Dunes – About an hour drive from Boise and incredibly worth the drive. These are the largest dunes in North America so we had to make the trek to check them out. There are a few sets of dunes with the smaller ones accessible directly from the parking area for a pretty easy hike. You can even “sandboard” down the dunes during the spring when the sand isn’t too hot! The most spectacular and highest dunes are a bit further away and certainly worth the hike, however we got a late start and didn’t have time to hike over to them but we still enjoyed our time there.
Touristy Stuff:
State Capitol – Sits on the north side of downtown Boise – always worth a visit to check out the incredible architecture of capitol buildings.
Boise Sign – There is a cool sign on the side of the Boise City Hall building on West Idaho street that says “Boise” when looking from one direction and says “Post Card” when looking from the other direction.
Train Station – Old train station up on a hill with great views of downtown Boise and the state capitol building with a historical steam engine on display.
Freak Alley – fun alley way in the heart of downtown with fantastic graffiti art by local artists.
If there are any specific things you would like to know about the areas we visit that we can elaborate on, please let us know and we will do our best to incorporate into future posts, or feel free to drop a comment and we will answer any questions you have about our travels.
Cheers,
We’ve been to Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park, the dunes in Death Valley National Park, and Indiana Dunes National Park but had no idea there were dunes in Idaho!
Hey — how are you making that cool travel map?
One more dune to check off your list. Time to head to Idaho! :). I’m making the map in PowerPoint…probably not the best program to use but it’s working
Reminds me of growing up….my parents (and us kids) traveled a month or more every summer in just about every state.
Hugs and loved and prayers for safety!
Ginny and Gary Taylor