Boise Roadtrip part 2

After eating yummy Texas Roadhouse and shopping at Sierra Trading Post we took a little time to look around Boise. Boise is a nice little capital city. It has a great downtown area and a wonderful green space near the river. It looks like a place we would really enjoy living, but, we haven’t seen what it is like in the winter. Might be a whole other story. Erik had the great idea of heading North up the Payette Valley along Hell’s Canyon up to Lewiston, Idaho. This was an all day adventure. We traveled along curvey roads along a raging river. At one point, we encountered firefighters in helicopters fighting a wildfire. It was really hard to breath at this point with the smoke filling the air and the flames licking the earth. We were only miles from Hell’s Canyon to the West, but there was no easy access from the road we were on. But our drive was really beautiful. In one town, we saw a very cool Bed and Breakfast called the DogBarkPark Inn. It is a giant beagle that is a bed and breakfast. Very fun. Toward the end of the drive, we came to farm land. Wheat for as far as you could see. This was really a beautiful sight which we would see much more of on the next day. We were a little disappointed with our hotel in Lewiston, ID. It was pretty much an armpit. We would have much rather stayed in the beagle than in this hotel which was sandwiched between a truck stop and a pulp mill plant. The picture of the pulp mill is from our hotel window. But we survived the night without any trouble and headed out through the Palouse toward home the next day. The Palouse is a region that neither Erik or I had explored. This is an amazing landscape of golden rolling hills of wheat dotted with farm implements and farm houses. We traveled through Moscow, Idaho, home of University of Idaho and through Pullman, Wa. Home of Washington State. It was great to put “faces” to these names. Unfortunately for picture taking, it rained all day so I didn’t get many pictures. We enjoyed a bar-b-que dinner in Ellensburg and took a look at a really funky house and then enjoyed listening to the Mariners beat the Whitesocks as we traveled the rest of the way home.

Road Trip to Boise

Erik and I were planning one last weekend away before school starts. We were planning to go to our property on the Olympic Peninsula. But, it looked like it was going to rain all weekend, so we took a look at the weather map, found some sun and headed East. We spent Thursday night along the Columbia in Kennewick. We enjoyed geocaching in Columbia Park. We passed through some huge brush fires going by Hanford. There were fire trucks coming from everywhere. The sunset was pretty amazing with the smoke in the air. We enjoyed the art of the different bridges in the area. The Columbia is a mighty river. This morning we headed to Walla Walla. Erik had never been to Walla Walla and wanted to see a part of the state he had yet to see. We stopped at the Whitman Mission National Historic site. I find this place really interesting because I have taught the book Stout Hearted Seven several years now. This is where the true and tragic story took place. We climbed up to the top of the hill where the monument is and had a great view of the Walla Walla Valley. We were able to find a few geocaches in the area. We then headed to Whitman College in Walla Walla. This is a beautiful little college. One of my students will be starting here in the fall. It is a pretty prestigious college so I am very proud of her for the hard work it took for her to get there. We found a geocache near a duck pond. But for me, the real find was a Deborah Butterfield horse. There was a lot of art on the campus, but it was really neat to see this giant horse that looked like it had been crafted out of drift wood. What was really cool is that unlike at the museum, I was able to touch this horse. I could see that it was really made out of bronze. It was also much bigger than the ones at the museum. We then headed off through Oregon. This is the route the pioneers on the Oregon Trail took over the Blue Mountains. (Only we were headed in the opposite direction.) It really is a beautiful but difficult landscape. We drove and we drove and we drove some more. I know that this sounds really crazy, but one of the reasons we chose to go to Boise was that they have a Texas Roadhouse. This is a restaurant that both Erik and I really like, Erik more so than I and at 500 miles away, it is the closest one to our house. Another place Erik really likes to go is Sierra Trading Post. They also have one of those in Boise now. So, mainly for the beautiful scenery and sunshine, but also with the promise of good food and shopping, we headed to Boise. We got to Texas Roadhouse and had to wait almost an hour to get a table. It was really hopping. Erik was really pleased with this because he even owns stock in the company. :) We enjoyed a great meal and left very full. Was hoping to share some photos tonight but will have to wait til I get home because I don't have the cable to download the photos. Oh well. Not sure what we will do tomorrow, but it is back to work on Monday so eventually we have to head back to cloudy Western Washington.

San Francisco Tour 8-5-07

I spent the day in San Francisco before my Discovery Educator Institute begins tomorrow. Wanted to make sure that I took full advantage of my day so I got an early start. It was a typical, gray summer day in San Francisco. San Francisco actually has much better weather at other times of the year. I am staying near the airport so I took a shuttle from the hotel to the airport to catch the BART to downtown. The BART is the rapid transit system in San Francisco. It is so great to be able to hop on a train and end up right in the middle of all the activity downtown. I got off at Powell street and started my day with a new book. I went to Borders and got a new San Francisco Lonely Planet Guide. I then had breakfast while researching my day. I made a list of places I would like to see. I then purchased an all day pass on the MUNI. This is for buses, trolleys and cable cars. I took a bus up into Chinatown and then walked through alleys to a fortune cookie factory. I learned that fortune cookies were actually invented here in San Francisco. Each cookie is folded by hand. I then caught the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. I held on for dear life as we careened up and down streets. We passed through Chinatown and Russian Hill. We saw Lombard St., the crookedest street in the world. At the wharf, I viewed old boats and I could see Alcatraz. I then walked to Ghiradelli Square. This is now a shopping area, but it used to be a chocolate factory. Yum. From there I took a bus to the Civic Center area where I enjoyed a wonderful lunch of Indian food. Back on the bus to Alamo Square so I could take pictures of the old Victorian Row Houses that they call "The Painted Ladies". Back on a bus to Golden Gate Park. (By the way, I opted not to go to the Golden Gate Bridge because it was too foggy to see it. ) At Golden Gate Park, I walked through the botanic gardens and through the beautiful old Conservatory of Flowers. They had a special exhibit for carnivorous plants. My camera battery was getting low. Not good since the day wasn't over and I was surrounded by flowers. I pulled myself away and took a bus to a transfer point. Instead of waiting for the next bus, I decided to walk. (Since it was down hill...:) I walked to the famous area called Haight and Ashbury. This was an area where the hippies hung out in the 60's. It is now a neat and funky street with lots of interesting shops and people. I was able to coax a few more pictures out of my camera before it gave up. I then planned on taking a bus to the Mission district. Again, I started walking since it was down hill. Walked all the way down Haight. Saw some really neat houses and shops. Got Mission Dolores. This is the oldest building in San Francisco. It was a church built by Spanish missionaries. The Mission area is a really neat area of town. This is a mainly Latino area of town, but it attracts immigrants from all over the world. So there is lots of neat mural art and wonderful ethnic restaurants. Had to pass up an Ethiopian restaurant. Haven't had Ethiopian food since I left Africa. Also had to pass up a world famous Mission burrito from a taqueria because I was still full from lunch. Very tired, I hopped back on the BART and headed back to my hotel. It was a very full and fun day. Now I am playing with my photos and getting stuff ready for a week full of learning at Berkeley.