Boise (West Coast Van Trip – Post 3)

The drive from Las Vegas to Boise was tedious at best. A lot of 2-lane highway with infrequent passing lanes. We were exhausted and grumpy by the time we arrived. Luckily, Serenity didn’t mind that we checked straight into the hotel with plans to meet up with them the next morning. The kids had just finished a family reunion with their dad’s side of the family, and everyone was tired.

Laura was sharing our hotel room with us and had arrived earlier that afternoon. Turns out it was an excellent hotel! We had a balcony overlooking the greenway path along the river. After our Lake Las Vegas disappointment, I was texting her, “Are you sure we have a balcony? And it overlooks the river?” So she texted me proof, lol.

Yep, sure enough, that is a real balcony, overlooking the river. It was fun to watch the river flow by. I snapped these shots during a brief break in passersby, but the path was well used by walkers, bikers, rollerbladers and scooters. It was fun to people-watch too.

We walked and jogged on the path multiple times during our 3 days in Boise. It was so nice to have it right there!

The next morning we met up with Serenity and Chirstina to float the river. The float is between two parks, with a shuttle bus between them. We parked at the lower park, shuttled to the upper park, rented a raft and tubes there, and floated on down. It was great!

The float trip was actually the first time John and I met Chirstina in person, but I didn’t fully realize that at the time. It seemed like I already knew her from Zoom and Facebook and everything.

Life has been so surreal because of the pandemic – I actually have several friends I’ve never met “in-person” yet. I would have to stop and think to even be able to name which ones I’ve met and which ones I haven’t met. They are all definitely “real” friends either way. Anyway, meeting at a park for a river float trip totally beat the proverbial, awkward “meet-the-parents” at Thanksgiving Day dinner by a long shot!

Here’s John and Laura at the park while we wait for Serenity and Chirstina.

Here’s comes the shuttle!

Serenity and Chirstina on the shuttle:

The kids had floated the river with their dad’s side of the family a few days earlier, so they knew it was impossible to stay together as you’re swept along in the current. So we roped ourselves together. Serenity and Chirstina were in the raft out front, John was next on an inner tube, and then Laura and I were roped to John.

The water was freezing, but it was a super hot day, and it was tons of fun.

John and I often travel with an inflatable kayak, so next time we’ll probably skip the tube rental and just float the river in the kayak. That would eliminate the long line for equipment rental.

After rafting we got cleaned up and went out to eat, but I totally forgot to take pictures. I’m kicking myself, because I don’t have very many good pictures of Serenity and Chirstina.

We went over to Serenity’s house that night and John did some needed handyman work. Serenity and Chirstina were very grateful. John is both generous and skilled. In addition to various kinds of drilling and tightening and adjusting things, he even crawled around below the house in the crawl space to verify there were no water leaks. That’s because the linoleum in the downstairs bathroom was lifting, so we thought, uh-oh, water leak. But it turns out the builders just installed poor quality flooring, so that will need redone at some point. Luckily they only had that particular type of flooring in just that one small area.

I was super excited to see Kira, but I forgot to take her picture! She looks the same as ever. All wiggles and wags! And as usual, all she wanted to do was play ball! I miss that dog!

I was somewhat less excited to see Kai, but grateful that he’s getting good care. It’s mostly Serenity’s roommates taking care of him. Chirstina told me that Kai has snarled and snapped at them a few times, but it doesn’t seem to bother them like it bothers me. Maybe it’s because they didn’t know him before he got mean, so to them, that’s just the way he is. Whereas I take it personally and it’s upsetting. Plus, I am actually a little bit afraid of dogs that will bite.

John stopped by Home Depot to pick up a couple paving stones to create an intermediate step between the doggie door and the patio paving. Kira wasn’t having any trouble with the step, but Kai is getting arthritic. Kai seemed very old. Here he is in the car after a recent trip to the groomers.

The groomer did more of a schnauzer cut than a poodle cut. At one time I would have cared, but I’m sure he doesn’t mind. And as long as the people who look at him every day are happy, I’m happy! And the dogs both seemed very happy.

The next day the kids were working (remotely), so John and I headed to the botanical garden. It was so hot, we were almost the only ones there. It was nearly 100°. We have been getting used to those temps ourselves this summer, but most people in Boise would not be used to heat like that – that’s really hot for Boise! Plus, Boise’s not as dry as Tucson, so the sweat just drips off rather than evaporating instantly. Yuck! In Tucson and Albuquerque you can’t even tell you’re sweating because you never get wet! Here I was definitely glowing, lol. We still enjoyed the garden.

Another highlight of the trip was our hotel itself. At the moment, Serenity has two roommates in addition to Chirstina, so there’s no room for us to stay with them. But turns out our hotel was so excellent that I just want to always stay there on visits, regardless of how many people may or may not be living at Serenity’s house!

In addition to our great balcony, it had two restaurants, both good, one of which had a huge area of shaded, outdoor seating near the river.

The other thing I loved about this hotel is how pleasant all the staff were. They were short-staffed (I think everyone is short-staffed right now), but even so, they were not frazzled and not grumpy, and surprisingly easy to interact with. It made the entire stay extremely pleasant. https://riversideboise.com/ (No, I’m not being paid to do an ad, lol.)

All in all an excellent visit in Boise – my only regret is not taking more photos of everyone. I guess we’ll have to go back soon!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com