Boise!

On our trip to view the solar eclipse in Idaho, Boise served as the home base. Overall, Boise is a pretty nice town. It's not very big, but has some amenities you'd expect in a larger city. There are decent restaurants, lots of bicycle lanes and great trails. The city center is very clean and walkable with a mix of old and new buildings. There are plenty of tree-filled residential neighborhoods adjacent to the city center - Boise's nickname is the "city of trees." Coming from Atlanta (the REAL city of trees) we'd still say Boise is well forested, especially compared to the rest of Idaho.

The first thing we did the morning after we arrived in Boise was climb Table Rock. This hill on the edge of town affords great views over the entire city and the nearby plains and mountains. It's a steep hike up, though, and there were lots of other folks hiking and jogging getting their morning off on the right foot.

Sweaty David on top of Table Rock.

There were tons of Arrowleaf flower on Table Rock and everywhere else in Idaho.

Boise down below. From here it really does look like a city of trees.

The hills leading away from Boise. No trees here!

After our morning hike, we took a tour of the Idaho Capitol. Unfortunately, there were no guided tours available this time of year, but there were pamphlets and self-guided resources. Overall, this capitol's interior was pretty drab, with very little artwork on the inside, but the exterior is very grandiose and some of the details in the dome and senate chambers are really great as well.

Idaho State Capitol Building.

Ornate dome.

Interior of the dome. Lots of natural light made the dome really colorful.

Interior. Lots of marble (and fake marble) but devoid of artwork.

Idaho Senate Chambers.

Before heading out to the Sawtooth Mountains (see that post here), we had lunch at Cloud 9 Brewery and visited the North End (think micro-Virginia Highlands in Atlanta). It's a nice residential neighborhood with a few local restaurants.

Beer and Lunch at Cloud 9 Brewery.

North End neighborhood.

Obvi there was ice cream.

After returning from our 2 day trip to the mountains and plains of Central Idaho, we poked around Boise for a bit more. Below are a few things we saw and did. Two other restaurants we'd  highly recommend are Wild Root Cafe and Market and Big City Coffee and Cafe (home of the biggest scones we've ever seen).

Shopping & restaurants at Boise Center.

We had some beer and food at Bar Gernika.

Bar Gernika is on "the Basque block," a cute street named after the city's Basque population.

There are quite a few old sandstone and brick buildings in downtown.

Another street full of old buildings.

We played a few games at Spacebar, a neat underground bar and arcade.

Ice cream at The Stil in downtown. This place was delicious!

Downtown and the Capitol Building.

The hills are pretty close to the north and east of the city center.

Downtown cuteness.

We stopped by Albertson's Stadium, home of Boise State and the "smurf turf."

No trip to a rural state is complete without a photo-op with giant livestock (see our North Dakota post)!