The Big City

On our trip to Boise, the boys and I took a day and explored downtown. Boise has one of the best downtowns anywhere, in my opinion. Clean, friendly, well-organized, and not scary in any way.

We rode the elevators up to the 19th floor of the US Bank building (the only tall building in town when I was young), and asked the male receptionist (!!) at the law firm there if we could look out their picture windows.

I had fun telling the boys what downtown Boise looked like when I was a child: "That was a parking lot. That was a parking lot. That was sort of a vacant lot. See that over there? It used to be a parking lot......" Are you sensing a theme? Yes, Boise has changed a lot since I was young.

We ate lunch at the Brick Oven Beanery, and sat at one of the outdoor tables you see behind the boys in the photo. (My apologies to the Brick Oven place. It was the Beanery for years, but now it's something different: The Brick Oven Bistro, or something. I don't know. I stubbornly called it the "Beanery" anyway.)

At one point we bought M. a T-shirt. The woman at the counter made it while we waited, and let the boys step behind the counter to watch her press the design on the shirt.


We walked all over looking for a hot dog vendor, but there were none to be found. We had fun playing with a bubbler, though.


The guys at the Egyptian Theatre were kind enough to let us in and look around without buying a ticket. The whole building is decorated with Egyptian motif, and considering we'd just studied Ancient Egypt last year it was great to be able to look around. I would've loved to have taken the boys to an actual movie there, but they were only showing "Mamma Mia!" so that wasn't an option.




Now, I know what you're all wondering, and the answer is "No." I did not spill anything on myself. Not on this day, anyway.