1) The Greenbelt. Boise is a very fortunate city to have a beautiful parks system that runs on both sides (for the most part) of the Boise River. The Greenbelt is an amazing place to bike, walk, jog or lounge with a refreshing beverage. As long as the cops don't see you (if you're too close to the river, that is).2)The Pen Not, not the one people are in NOW, the Old Pen. It's on Warm Springs Avenue. It sounds weird, but touring it is cool. It's got some really interesting architecture, and I always am amazed to be reminded that when it finally was "retired", I was, I think, 7 and my husband 10. It's not surprising that the reason we got a new prison is that the prisoners rioted at this one and burned a lot of it down. I can't blame them a bit. It's kind of out of the "Shawshank Redemption" except for there's no nice Morgan Freeman around.
3) The Boise Train Depot. The company I work for built this building many many years ago. (They also built the Hoover Dam). Looking at downtown Boise from the bell tower is amazing.
4) The Capitol Building. Our capitol is, I believe, one of the most beautiful in the 50 states. It's certainly a hell of a lot prettier than Nevada's, which is basically a rectangle of bricks with a teensy white dome on top. It's been recently remodeled and it's spectacular. Now if only there were more spectacular people in it.
5) The Idaho Shakespeare Festival, if visiting from June-September. Tom & Joe. The Fool Squad. They're amazing. That is all.
6) Table Rock. The brewpub or the hill, doesn't matter. The brewpub because that's where I met The Husband (and the beer is good, even if I'm no longer fond of their menu) and the hill because it's a great hike. One I obviously need to make more often, looking at myself in the mirror.
7) The MK Nature Center. Because you can see fish THIS BIG that you can't catch and they are laughing at you because of it. However, sometimes you get to see a mink catch one there and that is extremely satisfying for both mink and human. Sometimes you even see some of these guys.
8) The Crack. Get your minds out of the gutter. I'm referring to a piece of "art" that resides at the Grove Hotel. It's been the butt of jokes ever since it's unveiling, but we're all secretly fond of it. Here's how Boise Weekly describes it (much differently than Tom & Joe do, let me tell you):
BEST PUBLIC ART THAT GLOWS IN THE DARK Grove Street Illuminated & Boise Canal by Amy Westover-This is one of the better pieces of public art gracing our fair city. Created by one of Boise's own, it's just as intriguing during the day as it is at night. Westover masterfully combined style and substance to create an artwork that is aesthetically pleasing as well as historically illuminating. 9th and Front
9) The Museums (Art and Historical). They're right next to each other, (right by Table Rock brewpub, strangely enough) and I'm always happy to go see the two-headed calf, who's been there ever since I was a tot if not before and the art museum is fun - because believe it or not, we actually have art out here in the sticks!
10) Curtis Stigers. Well, you can't just go "see" Curtis. But he lives here. And I've seen him sing jazz and I've seen him eat croquetas at Bar Gernika. He's pretty cute eating croquetas. He's pretty cute any time, actually. My sons were appalled at my slack jawed gazing while sitting next to him. He was kind and ignored me. In addition to jazz, he also wrote the title song for the "Sons of Anarchy" series and had a huge pop hit back in the day. When he had long hair.
11) All things Basque. This would include Bar Gernika as referenced above (really a small restaurant, but there's definitely a bar there), Epi's Basque Restaurant (technically in Meridian, but that's worth a 15 minute drive, trust me, food is awesome and Chris, the owner, is the sweetest thing ever), the Basque Market and the Basque Museum.
Oops, that's 11 things. It's actually more like 20, since I kept throwing stuff in. Sorry, Kris, I've probably overwhelmed you. But I hope you get to come here and I hope you like it.
