Boise, ID

22nd-25th April: Days 14-17

A veritable Chinook blew against us all the way up I-84, over miles of a majesty-of-nothingness to our first planned destination: Boise, Idado.

‘Why Boise?’ Why not, we say.

Some Boise facts:

1. Those in the know call it ‘Boi-sea’, not ‘Boi-zee’.
2. It is the most geographically isolated urban area in the Lower 48, and is the state capital of Idaho.
3. It has a population of approx 200,000 and is one of America’s most ‘liveable cities’.

Here we have achieved two of the items on our ‘Tin Can Travels To Do List’: Attend a local sports event and go to Sonic.

Within 2 hours of pulling up at the Riverside RV Park, we found ourselves in an Uber (First time for this too.) headed into the city centre for an ice hockey game. The Idaho Steelheads vs Colorado Eagles. We got some pretty good seats, 3rd row back behind one of the goals. Those seats in which you would be killed by a flying puck if it weren’t for the perspex.

The steelhead is a large local trout and when the home team scores its first goal of a game a whole fish is thrown onto the ice, is scooped up by some chap, and paraded around the perimeter to whoops and cheers. Idaho lost in the end, but it was still very entertaining, for us anyway. Lots of high tensions on the ice, body contact, broken sticks and overly zealous fans kicking the boards. Our seats were also in the waitress-service-zone for food and drinks.  Very civilised.

Another highlight of the evening was meeting Nancy and Connor, who were sat next to us. They filled us in on lots of tit-bits of knowledge, both local and hockey related, and we amused them with our accents. After the game we went for drinks with them on the unexpectedly vibrant Boise ‘strip’, and they were kind enough to give us a lift home, via Sonic for a burger.

For those uneducated in the ways of US ‘drive-up’ fast foot establishments, at Sonic you drive up to a menu in the carpark, and press The Big Red Button to place your order. Then a server trots (or apparently sometimes roller-skates) across the carpark and serves your food to you through your car window. This was also on The List for us, and so excited were we that we broke protocol and actually got out of the car to have our photo taken with The Red Button.

Boise has a great riverside walking/cycle track along the river, connecting where we are staying to the centre of town, about 5 miles away. So we unleashed the bikes again, and meandered into town the next day, Sunday. There were just a few detours as the river has burst its banks in places due to the massive amounts of meltwater from a very snowy winter. We arrived downtown to be pleasantly surprised by the lack of high-rises, lots of independent eateries and a chilled out pedestrian and bike friendly vibe.

Boise also has a very beautiful Capitol building, which is open to the public. Amazingly you can just wander in and explore all the Senate and House chambers. Not an official or security guard in sight. The interior is immaculate, and done entirely in white marble. Quite beautiful.

We had only planned to spend 2 nights here, but we woke to rain, and could not be bothered to get up, let alone pack up. So we didn’t, and extended our stay over the phone with our even getting out of bed. Quite decadent behaviour. The road can wait until tomorrow.