Six hours is a long way to go, and Kent and I have both been concerned about the drive, though we've had different worries. Kent has been concerned about our car and taking it so far away (it's leaking something), so he suggested we rent a car. I agreed. I've been concerned about keeping the children engaged in something other than mind-numbing screen time, so went to the library to get several books on CD that we could all enjoy. I also got one book we could read aloud, a book by our favorite young persons author, Kate DiCamillo. I told the children to put together various things they could do, making them responsible for themselves, and I packed lots and lots of road trip munchies.
I'm happy to report that the car worked beautifully during the whole trip. It was practically brand new, had few miles, and was comfortable. I'm unhappy to report that it did NOT have a CD player because it is practically brand new and cars these days don't have CD players. There were charging ports and Bluetooth so we could connect the phone to the car and listen to books I'd downloaded, only I hadn't downloaded any books. While we drove to Boise, we talked and watched the world go by until Tremonton, but past there, between the Utah/Idaho border and Boise, there is very little to see. So I read the one book I had brought, Louisiana's Way Home. It was wonderful, we loved it, and I was so happy we had it. I'm not sure what we'll do on the way home.
I had looked up things to do in Boise because I knew we would arrive Thursday and wedding wasn't until Saturday. If we had time, I thought we might see something. I read about the Boise Fry Company, an upscale burger joint where the fries are the stars of the show. They offer five or six different kinds of potatoes cut in unusual ways, 12 flavored salts, and nearly 20 flavored ketchups and fry sauces. Sounds delicious, right? We had to give it a try. We arrived in Boise close to dinner time and discovered that the Boise Fry Company was very near the Idaho state capitol. Needing to stretch our legs and go to the bathroom, we wandered into and around the capitol, looking at various exhibits and learning interesting things about Idaho. Having wandered and peed, we went to eat. I was a bit underwhelmed by the fries, but the burger was delicious. We all agreed it was a fine stop for dinner, but not life changing.
My turkey burger (delicious!!) with purple potato fries, and regular slightly boring, slightly undercooked fries.
The fry sauces were interesting.
I especially liked the blueberry fry sauce.
Last year, at the funeral of his aunt, Kent's cousin Richard Brunson, invited us to come stay with him and his wife in Boise. We had no real plans to go to Boise, so Kent didn't even mention it to me. However, when the wedding was going to be in Meridian, Kent said, "Why don't we see if we can stay with cousin Richard for the weekend. He said he's got a really big house with plenty of room for us." Not knowing Richard at all, I told Kent I would leave that decision up to him, and sort of secretly hoped it wouldn't work out. I wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of staying with people we didn't know, even if they are family. But Kent thought it sounded great, it wasn't going to cost us anything (a solid perk), and it turns out, they were ten minutes from the Meridian Temple where the wedding was being held. So he called Richard who assured us that they would love to have us stay, and then said they wouldn't even be there until Saturday afternoon, so we wouldn't be putting anyone out.
That all sounded much better than I thought it would be, so we planned on staying. When Kent spoke to Richard to finalize arrangements, Richard said his daughter, Amy, would let us in. We should just call her when we were maybe half an hour away, so she knew we were coming. That gave me the impression that she lived close by and would come open the house for us.
Turns out, Amy and her husband Phil and their two sons, Sid and Jake, live at the house. They are in the basement, but they all share a kitchen, and so they are there, all the time. I called her to tell her we were half an hour away, and she said, "No problem. I'm home. We're waiting for you." That gave me pause because I didn't want to be putting anyone out. I needn't have worried, however, because Amy was absolutely wonderful. She and Sid met us upon arrival with warm chocolate chip cookies and friendly smiles. Sid and Jake are only a year ahead of each of our kids, and while they are both very shy, Sid warmed up quickly to Brandt. They were delightful and welcoming and made us feel like family, which we are, but we haven't known them at all. After a tour of the house (it is a big house and there was plenty of room for us) and a bit of settling in, we talked and talked and walked around the big block with the dogs that initially freaked out Blythe until she realized how friendly they were.
We are pleased to be in Idaho to celebrate a marriage, and to see new and interesting things we've never seen before.
In the bedroom where the children are sleeping,
there is a closet full of dress ups.
Brandt came down and modeled this most exciting ensemble.
He's such a lovely young woman!
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