Boy, oh, Boise

Analise here. For a mellower week, it’s still kept us busy. Our colds are receding as the leaves are turning. As we keep this eastward course, we hope to chase autumn across the plains. Boise has been a great stopover, though we’re already getting geared up for the next leg.

More than just potatoes

The state vegetable of Idaho is indeed the splendiferous spud, but the city of Boise does have a lot more to offer. When we got into town after outrunning the blizzard, we treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at Oak Barrel of Eagle with Count Chocula cheesecake for dessert. Lemon Tree Co. has a sausage and pear sandwich served hot — it’s amazing, all sweet and savory together. The last time Mark was here, he tried a steakhouse called Barbacoa; that’s on tap for Wednesday. All that said, we totally tried two of the options from the six available tot types and five cuts at the Boise Fry Company.

Star Wars in concert

Mark found a fantastic event for our Saturday night. The Boise Philharmonic kicked off their Pops series screening of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back with the orchestra providing the soundtrack live. After an exceptional tandoori dinner at Bombay Grill, we walked the three blocks to the Boise Phil’s address. There was even a small gaggle around the building of people dressed in a mix of fancy symphony-wear and Star Wars duds. There was just one issue: this wasn’t where the concert was happening. All of us were 0.7 miles from the venue: the Morrison Center on Boise State University’s campus. After a short trek across the river, we arrived just in time to hear the orchestra tune.

It turns out that guest conductor Ben Rous and I have something in common: as kids, we both dressed up as Yoda for Halloween. He’s a nerd, we’re nerds, the crowd were nerds, and it was fabulous. Adults and kids alike attended in costume. Cheers went up as every single major character appeared on screen. The Imperial March theme got a round of applause. It was easy to forget we were listening to the score performed live — the orchestra were that good. I had last seen Empire in theaters for the Special Edition re-release in 1997, and Mark had never seen it on the big screen. With the live orchestra and the fan crowd, the movie was even more spectacular than we could have hoped.

Click the pic to see a bigger pic

Zoo-per fan

I love animals, and I love a good zoo or aquarium. Zoo Boise is a really sweet place just outside of downtown on the Greenbelt. The leaves were turning colors and the grounds were decorated for Halloween celebrations. Highlights include a pack of African Wild Dogs and a 356-pound tortoise called Mr. Mac. There was also a thematically decorated Albertsons (grocery chain founder Joe Albertson was a favorite son of Boise) and a fountain in the rose garden with water bluer than the sky. If you’re looking for local color, the shade is Smurf Turf blue like the Boise State football field.

RV checkup

Like us, Rexy has enjoyed a quiet week to enjoy sunrises and sunsets before we push eastward next week. The day-to-day toils continue:

• The ice maker had a drip that’s put a layer inside half the freezer box. We’ve stopped the drip and are deciding between thawing or chipping for the next move.

Improvements continue!

• We’ve put LEDs in our five recessed ceiling light fixtures. Now the metal fixtures won’t burn our fingers when we hit the off-switch.
• We replaced some measuring cups that got sacrificed when we MacGyvered a way to refill the engine coolant for the first time last month.

Lilly watch

This week’s cat tax brought to you by the Doctor

Up next

We aim to be in Sturgis, South Dakota by Sunday afternoon. We’ll be near Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, the Black Hills — so many things we’ve heard about but never seen in person.

If you have any suggestions for things to see in South Dakota or questions about RV life and our travels, let us know in the comments.