Northwest adventure (day 2)

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Idaho

I awoke this morning about 6:30 and used the time while others in our room were still sleeping to read five chapters from the Book of Mormon and to finish Are We There Yet?, one of the books I received for my recent birthday. A little before eight o'clock I drove Shauna to the place in downtown Boise where her Scentsy convention began.

When we were all up and fed and ready for the day, somewhere around ten, we headed out for our day's adventures. We drove through downtown and then along Warm Springs Avenue to visit the site of the old penitentiary, which operated from 1870 (seven years after Idaho was organized as a territory) until 1973 (when the facility was replaced by a new state prison built at another location). After we paid our entry fee, we joined a tour group that was already in process. The older gentleman who conducted the tour was a wealth of information and stories about what had happened at the penitentiary during the century of its operation. He was fascinating to listen to, and we didn't mind that his tour lasted far longer than it was supposed to. (During the evening, after Shauna was back with us, the children were recounting some of the stories to her in great detail.)

Also housed at the penitentiary site, not because they had anything to do with the prison but because space was available, were museums relating to early transportation and to the development of electricity in the state of Idaho. There was also a firearms museum, but we did not go into that.

Michael called a friend of his (TJ Eardley), who used to work with him at Deseret Book and who now lives here in Meridian, just west of Boise. They agreed to meet for lunch at 1:00 at a place on Broadway across from Julia Davis Park called The Ram. I called my brother Jerry, and he and his roommate Jim were already in downtown Boise, just minutes away from The Ram, so I invited them to lunch as my guests. When we got to the restaurant, the three of them (TJ, Jerry, and Jim) were sitting in front visiting with each other. They had already figured out that they were waiting for the same people.

The food was good (I had a garlic swiss burger that TJ recommended as being good, and it was), and the visit even nicer.

After lunch and good-byes, we found the Discovery Center of Idaho and spent the rest of the afternoon there. The children participated in a tower building contest using plastic straws and masking tape. Caleb tied for second place in the most creative category. We then spent a couple of hours with the numerous hands-on exhibits throughout the center. It was both enjoyable and educational.

The center closed at five o-clock, and we were supposed to pick Shauna up thirty minutes later. Since the Discovery Center, located just at the edge of Julia Davis Park, was only a couple blocks from where we were to meet Shauna, we decided to use the half hour we had to drive up to the freeway to show the kids the Boise Idaho Temple and then back into downtown to find Shauna. She had had a thoroughly enjoyable day at her convention.

We returned to the motel for about an hour, then headed again through downtown and along Warm Springs Avenue to the Municipal Park along Walnut Street and the Boise River to attend the family picnic being held in conjunction with Shauna's Scentsy convention. Boise has a lot of urban park space and an impressive greenbelt through much (perhaps all) of the town along both sides of the Boise River. We ate our picnic dinner, which consisted of green salad, potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, corn-on-the-cob, beef or chicken barbecue, and drinks. There were ice cream, popsicles, or watermelon for dessert. We met another person Michael knew from Intermountain Healthcare, Ryan Day, whose wife is also involved in Scentsy, and they were up for the convention from Herriman, Utah. We ate at the same picnic table, just a stone's throw from the Boise River, and visited with the Days. After eating, Caleb, Jacob, and Andrew went and played on the big inflated bouncy toys that had been set up throughout the park.

After we left the park, we drove a little further along Warm Springs Avenue and showed Shauna where the penitentiary was that we had visited this morning. The children shared their stories from the guide we had there. We then went looking for a Wal-Mart, somewhere on Overland Road, filled the car with gas, which is cheaper here in Idaho than in Utah, and returned after dark to the motel. It had been a fun and memorable day.