Boise, Idaho

A handful of us crammed into a friend's truck and drove last weekend to Boise, Idaho to raft (for the faux-doorsy among us) or kayak (for the actual outdoorsy among us) a river. (*insert mental image of me being bounced straight out of said raft upon impact with the first rapids we encountered-thanks, lifejacket!*)

That's not the point of this post. I kinda hate water, and my thighs got sunburned. The point of this post is I LOVE Boise, Idaho. I've lived my whole life just barely outside of the Idaho/Utah border, and southern Idaho is an uninspiring, sagebrushy desert.

But Boise. Boise! Boise is everything I think a proper city should be. Cute downtown, bike friendly (we bumped into three separate bike shops in one block), full of boutiques and shops and cafes and an outwardly mobile gay community, as well as an arts scene (I wanted to take some silverworking classes when I was up there) and roller derby. Five hours outside of Portland, I'm convinced that Boise is a half decade or so from being the next Portland, or Austin, cuz it's cheap and artsy.

I had the best time there, eating and wandering around the basque district and up in the Hyde Park neighborhood. We hit the most crazy-organized thrift store I've ever been to (proceeds going to a local animal shelter), I bought myself the Holga camera I've wanted for years, we had chinese food at midnight, saw a friend of mine from there, had brunch at the cutest brunch place (la vie en rose), wandered into bookstores....Basically had a killer weekend in what may be my new favorite city.