Boise, Idaho.

The start of another week and another Monday. For Andrea this meant work and off she went. After breakfast Mark loaded up the kids and off we went to a bird of prey observation point at the side of the Snake river. This place is in the middle of nowhere and is just scrub land. The river was way down below us in a canyon. As we walked to the side of the canyon we saw a couple of hawks and at least one eagle. However when we got to the actual observation point and had the binoculars out all we saw were crows!! Nevertheless it is a beautiful place and I am glad I got to see it. We went home and had BLTs for lunch, Mark really looked forward to those sandwiches! When Andrea got home in the afternoon we started to get our things together for a trip out to a local hot springs. I say local, but it was over an hour away. I think that when you live in America your concept of local is a lot different from an English persons.
We all scrambled into Mark's pickup and off we went. Our route took us through the Payette river valley, again another beautiful place. We found the Pine Flats camp site without too much difficulty and then it was a half mile walk down to the hot springs, beside the river. This may sound easy, but when you have a baby and a toddler in tow, it becomes anything but. We got there and jumped in, it was a little colder than I expected. After a while Andrea and I jumped into the river and than ran back to the hot spring pool, thinking that this would make us feel warmer. It did, but then mark returns and says that there is a much better pool just around the corner. I am so glad that I didn't jump into the river by myself! We all settled into the new pool, which included a hot "shower" i.e. water coming down off the cliff into a shower. It was fantastic. The only drawback was having to wear a bikini, but this isn't Japan, so "When in Rome...". It started to cloud so we got our things together, including the two boys, and headed back up to the campsite. Mark had prepared a picnic for us, including peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and beer. Good combo. He let Blue off his leash and the dog had the run of the campsite, at first he didn't go far, he'd keep coming back to the truck, almost as if he was checking that we hadn't left without him. It was completely dark by the time we packed up and climbed back into the truck and went home. Another good day.
The next Morning Mark took me into downtown Boise. He showed me around the Basque quarter, they have a market, meeting house, museum and an old boarding house. Basque men would come to work in and around Boise herding sheep and so they would stay in boarding houses. There is only one left now. The museum is really interesting, I hadn't realised how little I knew about the Basque people. Unfortunately before my trip to Boise when I heard the Basque people mentioned my first thought would be about "ETA". Not a good association. The museum helped to dispel that, for example the Basque people were ship builders and whalers. Developing techniques in both fields that were followed by the rest of the world. After my cultural experience we went to the "Record Exchange", Dustin;s favourite shop in Boise and a cultural experience in itself. As the name suggests it is a record shop and so much more. Then it was on to lunch at the Basque market, which was so good.
When we got back to the house Mark fed Samuel and put William down for his nap. He ran a couple of errands and then went off to work, leaving me with the boys. Luckily it wasn't too onerous as Samuel isn't walking yet and is very easy to entertain, William was still sleeping. When Andrea arrived home,only some forty minutes later, I was glad to hand the boys back into her care. I am not a natural mother. It was a relaxed afternoon, which included me getting the next part of my trip organised. I have been so unplanned on this trip it's a wonder that I've gotten to do anything. I am trying to be more organised, but it's not working!!In one way it's good, as I can change my plans when an opportunity comes up, but in another it's not as I may not be making the best use of my time. As I write this I realise that I only have five weeks left on my current visa. Now that may sound like a lot, but when you look at where I've been in the past five weeks, only four states. There's still a lot more I want to do and people I want to see. I need to get on it.
Tuesday dinner was a BBQ, with the promised Idaho potatoes, on the deck. It was a nice evening and after I played with Blue while Andrea got the boys ready for bed. Then we sat down for some low brow t.v. while we waited for Mark to come home. A good last day in Boise. The next morning I was up early and Andrea drove me to the airport, just fifteen minutes away. She dropped me off right beside the check-in desk which is outside the terminal building. I checked in no problem, using my drivers licence for i.d. and went on inside. I walked through security and the security said that she couldn't accept my British drivers licence as i.d., I needed my passport. That was a bit of a problem as my passport was in my checked luggage, foolish I know, but I had felt that it was safer in my rucksack rather than carrying around with me everyday, especially as up until now I hadn't needed it. I had hoped that my flight to Spokane would be my first inside the U.S..The lady called her supervisor and he took me to one side and looked at my licence. I don't know if he decided that I didn't look like a terrorist or that my licence would suffice as i.d., but he said it was fine and waved me on through. Then it was onto the security check where I got another surprise. Everyone had to take their shoes off before going through the security check. They don't even make you do that in London Heathrow airport. I thought it was a little paranoid, but I had already had one brush with authority that morning, I didn't want another one. I did as I was told and sailed through.
Boise airport is fairly small, but has most things that you would expect, including the requisite opportunities to spend money stores and a McDonald's. I bypassed these and went to the departure gate and read a little. On Southwest airlines you're not allocated a seat, instead they board you in the order in which you checked in, unless of course you've paid extra for the upgraded service. I hadn't. This didn't prove a problem as I got an aisle seat in a row of three and no one sitting beside me. Great! It was off to Spokane and a new state.