Boise, Idaho

May 29, 2021

We left Hagerman Friday May 28 after Dave had checked out the fossilized skeleton of the Hagerman Horse through the door of the Hagerman Fossil Beds Visitor Center [closed until new facilities are completed]. The Hagerman Horse lived 3.5 million years ago and became extinct 10,000 years ago.

Late Thursday afternoon the repairs for which we’d been waiting weeks were finally complete so the step moved in and out as expected and the cover over the largest slide was whole and tight. Because that cover hadn’t been rolling up properly, we had spent the week with that slide in. 45 square feet doesn’t seem like much, but its loss made us feel crowded.

Friday’s drive to Boise started in winds that were sufficiently gusty to make something on the driver’s side of the rig bang like it’s done only one time before. Maybe it’s an awning getting caught by the wind. Whatever it is, it’s quite unnerving. The wind gusts are also unnerving so we were pleased to get safely to Boise. Our RV-dedicated navigation system took us down a residential dead-end street and under some trees that threatened to remove the antenna and air conditioning from the roof. We unhooked the Jeep and turned the RV around (fortunately, the dead end was a little wider than the street on which we came in and we only required a three-point turn) and were so relieved to reach the Boise Riverside RV park that we hardly noticed that neither our riverfront site nor the park itself had a view of the Boise River. Who would have thought that Boise Riverside RV Park in Boise (which Jane had entered into the GPS) is down a dead-end street while Boise Riverside RV Park in Garden City (which Jane should have entered into the GPS) is where the park is located?

We settled in and began Boise adventures the next morning with a geocaching get-together. A fellow cacher there recommended a nearby cache and in pursuing it we checked out JUMP (Jack’s Urban Meeting Place), a not-for-profit interactive creative center and community meeting place downtown. We weren’t too disappointed the multi-story slide was not open, and we enjoyed walking around and exploring an unusually-displayed antique tractor collection.

This Twin-City 40-65 was built between 1912 and 1924 in Minneapolis and was used to break up prairie. Tractors at the time cost as much as single family homes.

This Case steam engine was made in Racine WI between 1909 and 1924.

We hand’t planned to visit the state capitol yet–the website said it was closed Saturdays. Because people were going in and we figured Saturday would be less busy than weekdays, we went in, too.

The Idaho capitol rests on sandstone designed to look like logs in honor of the state’s pioneers.

The Capitol was designed by John Tourtellotte and the original section was constructed between 1905 and 1912. Tourtellotte saw light as a metaphor for enlightened and moral government and used it generously throughout the building.

The eight larger columns are 6′ in diameter and support the dome.

The oculus [now that’s a word we could have used in a few previous posts of state capitols–it’s the top of the inner dome] has 13 large stars for the original colonies and 30 smaller stars for the other states of the union when Idaho joined in 1890.