Middle America, here we come. After driving 8 hours along the Oregon Trail, we arrived in Boise. The city feels like an oversized suburb centered around Boise State University, which, to Annie’s surprise, has a blue football field. It’d be a good place to live if you like the outdoors and want to slow down.
Flooded Greenbelt
The Greenbelt is the best biking and walking path along a major river that we’ve ever seen. The only place that compares to it is the walk along Memorial Drive in Boston, but to reach Boise’s Greenbelt, Boston would have to subtract the 4-lane road just a few feet away. We rented bicycles for the afternoon and while our bike ride was gorgeous, it was shorter than expected because Boise River was severely flooding due to an epic snow season. The Greenbelt should be the #1 stop for anyone visiting Boise.
Incredible Drive ALONG THE OREGON TRAIL
We hope all drives are like the one from Portland to Boise. It flew by. Route 84 was luxurious: wide lanes, a major barrier, no traffic. Adam drove for the first 3 hours while Annie took the lion’s share with 4.5 hours behind the wheel. We facetimed Cinder while we crossed the border into Idaho, but we had to turn around because Adam wanted a picture of the “Welcome to Idaho” sign. We had grand plans of taking pictures of every state border – this didn’t end up happening. We saw rolling farmland, an abandoned mining plant, and even snow-topped mountain in the distance. The first hour was a little hairy because it was raining really hard. We’re averaging about 30 mpg in the Nissan Rogue, so better than expected.
Dinner in Downtown
We ventured into Downtown Boise for dinner. It doesn’t really feel like a normal city, but more like a college town. We were surprised at how expensive the homes were listed for on Zillow, particularly near downtown. Most houses ranged from $400k to $2million. We ate a delicious dinner at Eureka! It felt a bit like Daedalus in Harvard Square, a place where local students bring their parents for an easy, “fancy” meal when they come to visit. Every television was playing the NFL draft. Clearly a college football town.
