Boise Adventure: Spring Break Part One

Hello again! I am back with tales of more adventures. Currently, I am sitting in my hotel room in Denver, CO, as I am here for a conference that starts tomorrow. But, more on that later. For now, I want to talk about an excursion to Boise this weekend that involved myself, Griffen, Megan, her boyfriend, Brendon, and of course, Clem. 

Friday was the start of our adventure, and Griffen and I left town at about 10:00 PM after he got back to Lewiston from a track meet. I picked up some caffeinated iced tea and a dirty chai for the both of us, and we were off. Griffen, being the lovable person he is (and being hyped up on two shots of espresso), drove the whole way from Lewiston to Nampa. My bar was set a lot lower: we were both surprised I never fell asleep. We had a fun drive talking about Griffen's races, and it's exciting for him to be back on the track for the start of the outdoor season after some bumps in the road. We listened to lots of 2000s hits and had ourselves a lil' dance party until we got to my parents' house in Nampa at around 4:00 AM. Megan and Brendon had already arrived earlier in the evening and were sleeping soundly. Griff and I were surprisingly not that tired, and stayed up until about 5:30 AM talking some more and messing around with Murphy dog.

Side note: Murphy whines a lot and Griffen does not appreciate this. Noted on my behalf

SATURDAY

After we crashed, we both woke up around 9:30 AM, said "hell no," and went back to bed. Unfortunately, we did not wake up until about 1:00 PM. I don't remember the last time that I slept in that late. By this time, Megan and Brendon were already up, showered, had eaten, and were thrift shopping. We pulled ourselves together, showered, and then found food to feed Griffen before the hangry set in. 

After we had rejoined the realm of the living and Megan and Brendon had returned, we talked a bit about options and planning for the day. Since it was already the middle of the day, we put off doing anything too crazy. We decided on spending some time around Boise, so I donned my favorite black turtleneck and linen pants so I could act pretentious at the Boise Art Museum (in preparation for this conference, of course). The BAM always seems to exceed my expectations, though I don't visit much. I had fun talking through my thoughts on the different exhibits with Griffen, Megan, and Brendon, and trying to guess which pieces Griffen would like and which he would make sure to let us know he hated. I would say I am catching on to his artistic preferences. I really enjoyed the art of Jean LaMarr, which depicted Native culture and identity richly through vibrant contrasts of history and modernity. I was also interested by James Hashimoto, who used video games, nature, and kites to inspire his work. He also has a large exhibit in the sculpture hall of the museum. 

After our immersive, pretentious art experience of the day, we strutted on over to Trader Joe's, where I embraced my turtleneck and linen pants once more to embody the spirit of a much more sophisticated hippie. I enjoyed marveling at the $4.00 cacti and the different fun snacks. We ended up walking away with a couple bottles of flavored sparkling water to make G + Ts later, some pineapple-orange juice for the morning, and a bottle of rosé that was under $10 because I thought the bottle looked pretty. 

Once our Trader Joes dreams were satiated, Griffen and I left Megan and Brendon to explore while we jetted over to the Boise Greenbelt, where Griffen ran his long run and I biked alongside (behind) him. It was a bit chilly, but the path was pretty, and we saw lots of duck friends along the way. :) 

After Griff finished stretching, we went to Mongolian BBQ in Nampa for some dinner. Griffen had a couple giant bowls of stir fry and was a happy camper upon learning that the All You Can Eat dinner was only about $15. 

We left with full tummies and went to paint some pottery. However, my navigational skills are more than sub-par, even in my hometown, apparently, and I sent the wrong location to the group. The place that I directed us to looked closed, and the original place I had in mind was closed, so Griffen and I went back to the house. Megan and Brendon were more adventurous, though, and discovered that the place I did not mean to send us to also had pottery painting. They started some pieces while Griffen and I looked at pictures and started planning for the next day. 

When Megan and Brendon came back, we hashed out some plans for the next day and then played a game of Cards Against Humanity. The Trader Joe's wine made an appearance and I was very pleased. The Gin and Tonics were also flowing a bit freely, and we had a fun, semi-tipsy time (maybe that was just me). Griffen worked on some of his physics homework after everyone broke away to go to bed, and I, with the intention of staying awake to be an encouraging girlfriend, immediately fell asleep. 

SUNDAY

I had a fantastic headache from the lovely Miss Rosé when I woke up. However, I dragged myself downstairs at my alarm to tutor one of my fourth grade students at 9:00 AM. Murphy was a good sport and cuddled with me while my student and I read through the novel we are currently working through: "I Survived the Attacks of September 11th, 2001" by Lauren Tarshis. We recently finished reading "I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916" by the same author, and this student is very engaged by these types of books. It has been very cool to see this student grow over the last two years into someone who reads at his grade level quite fluently and who is motivated to learn more and do more. These are the moments I live for as an educator. 

After tutoring, I showered away my hangover, and then Griffen and I began packing up the car to go on our little day trip. All of us made sandwich lunches and packed snacks in a cooler, and Griffen even took his inflatable kayak in case we were motivated to try it out for the first time. I took my parents' camera on our little excursion in hopes of practicing and maybe getting a couple good shots; I am trying out photography as a potential new hobby. Unfortunately, we forgot a few essential things, such as life jackets and the trail mix we were looking forward to as road snacks. Oh, well.

We drove out near Wendell, Idaho, to see the Ritter Island unit of Thousand Springs State Park. I wasn't expecting much in terms of waterfalls or scenery, because I haven't seen much to impress in this region of Idaho. However, we were all shocked by our little adventure that day. We spent a lot of time looking at Lemmon falls, which is right near the entrance. First, we ate our sandwiches in the car and then went off the beaten trail to explore a bit. It was super, super windy and cold, but as long as we were moving and passed around the gloves often, we stayed decently warm. Griffen climbed up near the top of the falls and got sprayed with some of the falls when the wind changed directions. I got some cool shots of the falls and of him. After climbing around the mossy rocks and saying goodbye to the white in my Vans, we found a little trail that we followed for a while. Griffen and I found a big rock on top of a big hill and climbed that, where we found a little platform leading to the other side. I started messing around with the camera and after taking one good shot of Megan looking back at me I promptly decided that I am now a photographer. Venturing further, we found a bunch of rock chucks crawling around, so I made it my goal to get a good picture of one. I got my photo when I stumbled across a little guy that let me get nice and close to him, and stayed still for an extensive amount of time until my hands stopped shaking enough to get a photo that wasn't blurry. I was pretty proud of my rock chuck photography skills, and am now planning my career as a National Geographic photographer (I could even write for them, too! Two-in-one deal!). The gate to the island part of the park was closed, which was a bummer because there were two more falls inside the gate that we wanted to see, one of them being Minnie Miller Springs, which I really wanted to see the most. Griffen suggested taking the inflatable kayak on its maiden voyage against the current over to the falls. This was quickly shut down. 

From there, we got some gas and went out to the Malad Gorge and Devil's Punchbowl. It was a neat thing, but dulled in comparison to the falls on Ritter Island we had seen. We watched a bird of prey (my favorite thing to look for on adventures) fly in and around the Gorge. I sat on the ledge of the cliff and took pictures of the cows nearby. When the cold wind got the better of us, we jumped in the car and drove home. 

Since I drove out to Wendell, Griffen drove home (but we still took my car, Tito, of course--he is the adventure vehicle). I did not succeed in staying awake the whole time, and I got a vivid description of how beautiful I look when I fall asleep with my head tilted back, mouth ajar, and eyes slightly open. Here's a spoiler: it's not a very attractive look. I took some teasing and then kept myself and Griffen awake by feeding him Goldfish crackers. 

We decided to stop at Island Sushi and Ramen in Boise for some food and to give Griffen a break from driving. Griffen and I got some small 6-piece rolls (we are poor) and Megan and Brendon got some very beautiful, fuller sushi rolls. We enjoyed our food and headed back home, where we all spent some time unpacking, unwinding, and napping for an hour or two. After a bit, we had a couple friends over to play some games: Clay, who is Griffen's roommate at LCSC and was also in Nampa at the time, and Preston, who is my good friend from the Writing Center at U of I and fellow student teacher. We played Cards Against Humanity for a bit, and then after Clay and Preston left, the four of us played some Jackbox games. Megan and Brendon went to bed for a while, and Griffen and I watched some Game of Thrones before passing out for the night. 

MONDAY

The next morning, waking up at 10:00 AM when we were supposed to be up and moving by 8:00 AM was not a strong point. We planned on getting Griffen's workout done in the morning, and then leaving by 10:00 to do some pottery painting all together. We ended up waking up groggy, grabbing some quick food from downstairs, and doing some dishes and cleaning up before my parents got back. We left a bit later and met Brendon and Megan at Monday's Makerspace and Supply, where we got some pottery pieces to paint. We spent a good amount of time there, painting a flower pot (Griff), a frog (me), salt and pepper shakers (Megan), and a tiny piggy bank (Brendon). It was a lovely artistic experience for a Monday early afternoon. Megan and Brendon went thrift shopping again while Griffen and I headed home to do his 40-minute run on the Nampa Greenbelt, which me once again biking with (behind) him. When we got back, my parents had gotten back from their Arizona trip. We talked with them for a bit, then Griffen packed up his stuff, and all of them loaded into Megan's X-Terra and left. Rumor has it they got to stop at Kirkham Hot Springs on their way back up to Northern Idaho. Lucky!

After the gang left, I spent some time talking with my folks about their adventures visiting my aunt and uncle in Arizona. It sounds like they got to do some pretty fun stuff! Then, I showered, packed up my suitcase in preparation for my conference, and organized my room. We had pizza for dinner and then headed to bed, as my flight for the next day started boarding at 4:55 AM. 

All in all, it was a great experience, and I was super glad to be able to spend time with the people I love before going on this conference trip. Conferences tend to stress me out easily--this one even more so as I am presenting some of my original research at the national level. My parents, Griffen, Megan, and Brendon were able to take away some of the apprehension I was experiencing as my departure date came closer. I hope we can all do a trip again sometime soon. 

Photos from the camera to come soon! Happy trails!