Boise

Pat & I went to Boise, his hometown, for the weekend. It was absolutely wonderful to be off the ranch for a bit. I'll admit, though I've only been in the middle of nowhere for several months, re-entry to a big city was actually overwhelming. Traffic, noises, supermarkets- goodness!


Pat has an apartment in a charming neighborhood, walkable to stores and restaurants. Saturday night we (and by we, I mean Pat) made an absolutely wonderful homemade dinner, grilled steak with caramelized onions and blue cheese with a salad on the side. My steak was perfectly barely cooked for my taste with blue cheese and onions dripping into every bite. It was so awesome to get eat slowly and not beside a dumpster. Then we met his friend Jimmy out on the town.


On Sunday afternoon, we went to Pat's step-grand-niece's one-year birthday party, where I got to meet Pat's parents and his two brothers, Tim & Bill, Bill's wife Gina, Pat's aunt and a whole lot of other relatives. It was a great picnic-party in a park. Boise apparently has lots of parks. The one-year old properly covered herself in cake and received five thousand pink gifts. Pat also received his birthday present from the whole family...an older (read, more sturdy and cool looking) Cuisinart commercial mixer that had been refurbished. Unfortunately there wasn't time to whip anything up over the weekend, but I did get to hear it sounding like a jet engine while running-quite impressive.


Then on Monday, we got to go boating on Lucky Peak Lake with just his parents. I love riding on motorboats, it makes me feel like a dog with his head stuck out the window. We stopped on a dock and went for a swim. (Forgetting my swimsuit, buying a swimsuit in under 10 minutes and wearing a swimsuit that didn't quite fit all of me, was an especially exciting part of "hanging out" with his parents, but all went well). They are very nice, and we had a relaxing time on the water.



Pat's Dad retired from being a pediatrician in the Air Force when Pat was little and then became a psychiatrist, which he continues to practice several days a week. He told many funny stories. Pat's mom did the question asking to make sure that I was up to snuff to be with her son. I think I passed, you never know for sure!



















We also toured around the city a bit. Downtown Boise is great: very clean, lots of great restaurants and bars with outside seating. I'm surprised by large cities that don't expand into suburbs. From what I saw, it looks like Boise just stops and the hills start- no sprawl that gradually dissipates. There was a great view of the whole place from on top of properly named "Signal Hill".











I apologize there are no pictures of the family. I thought I might get a few snaps at the end of the day, but a large wind storm made it hard to get in and out of cars, let alone take any good pictures.