Avoiding I-84

Last Wednesday, on the way from Boise to McCall, Idaho, Zac and I stopped off on the side of the road and followed the signs up and over to Skinny Dipper Hot Springs...

...then we just did as instructed.

Refreshed, we traveled the rest of the way to McCall, a small, lakeside town that still manages to support one brewery and half a dozen ice-creams shops. We just camped the one night there, but we really enjoyed walking alongside the lake and meeting the locals; Zac even helped some slack-liners with their webbing. And of course, no visit is ever complete without a small taste of the local brew. Cheers!

One and Twenty-One

Last week, Zac and I finally pulled into Boise and set up camp in the KOA there, which means we squeezed our tent in between about a thousand RVs and the place where all the RVers take their dogs to poop. Charming.

Anyway, once we carved out a spot for ourselves, we enjoyed some Monkey Face beer. I thought that meant we were making monkey faces. Zac did not. 

We spent the next day walking around the (very cute) streets of downtown Boise. Who knew Boise has roller derby and a salsa and bachata festival??

Let me show you some of our favorite parts of the city. Here's the Flying M Coffeeshop, which appears to be the hipster capital of the world:

Here's the Greenbelt, twenty-two miles of riverwalk throughout the city. We took it all the way to Boise State University to spy on the football players practicing on their bright blue field. 

And here's Goldy's! We had to hit this famous breakfast nook since we missed it last time we were in town. It was delicious.

Later that night, we wandered back to town to meet up with one of my old college roommates, Lindsay, and her husband, Mike. As we are wont to do, I had called Lindsay that morning to see if they wanted to have dinner together...and we wound up staying at their house for two days. We have been so blessed with good friends.

Lindsay and Mike moved to Boise last October and absolutely love it. They're taking the town by storm, hiking, biking, skiing, and tracking down the best spot for a microbrew. They took us out to some of their favorite spots in and above Boise. 

Zac and I already had some plans for Tuesday the seventeenth. Lyle Lovett was playing at the Old Penitentiary at the Idaho Botanical Gardens and we had bought tickets way in advance. We showed up a good three hours early to get in line, beer and books in hand. This is us, places five and six in line and just lucky enough to fit under the shade tree.

Our line-sitting was time well spent.

Lyle was playing that night with his Acoustic Group, which includes Russ Kunkel on drums, John Hagen on cello, and Viktor Krauss on bass. I've been hearing for a couple of years how Viktor is the best bass player in the world, if not the cheeriest. The show also included Luke Bulla on fiddle and Keith Sewell on guitar and mandolin.

This concert was my first Lyle Lovett and Zac's twenty-first. And it was fabulous.

We loved the show and we wanted to share our excitement with our families. Turns out not everyone was as happy about our good fortune as we were...