The trip went really well, just a low key, chill week out of the Texas heat. I had not been before and can see how some compare it to how Austin was 30-40 years ago. I will say it is very clean, traffic was not an issue and there is either no homeless issues, or they are in an area we didn't make it to. The greenbelt that runs through town is awesome. We covered different sections of it while walking, checking out some smaller museums and getting food/drinks. The food and drink options around town were great. It wasn't on a level like New Orleans but still suited us just fine. The Basque Block Deli has a Wednesday& Friday Paella special, with the guy cooking on the sidewalk. That was a fun lunch, and I learned a little about the Basque and their influence on Boise. A small German deli, Alpen Hause? I think, has great sandwiches and German beer on tap. I can't remember the names of all of the brew pubs/ restaurants downtown on 8th we hit, but there's quite a few and enjoyed each one we tried. Either we were just lucky on our choices or it's hard to find a bad meal there.
it was Halloween while we were there, and there was a city sponsored party at the old penitentiary. The city has converted it into their botanical gardens, which is both kind of cool and odd. We didn't stick around to long since it was geared towards kids. But the families that were there looked like they were having great fun.
We made it to the National Forest past Idaho City on hwy 21 then cut over past Lowman before coming back on hwy 55. We hiked some trails around the Payette River which was the best scenery of the trip. There have been a few fires recently that left a lot burned areas which is unfortunate, but not uncommon there due to lightning strikes. Stopped at Locking Horns in Horseshoe Bend on the way back for burgers and beers. Nice deck right by the Payette, but what stood out was they use old beer kegs cut in half for urinals. That was a new one for me and I'm an old.
The War Hawk Aviation Museum was cool visit if you're into military/ history stuff. Planes, cars and tons memorabilia including a Hitler pin cushion, my personal favorite.
Oh, and I didn't get stuck in COTA traffic, so I have that going for me.