Vista Inn Boise

floating the river

by crazyk

A big thing to do here in the summertime, is to float the Boise river, they start at Barber park, and float on rafts to Ann Morrison park.
It reminds me of the movie"deliverence" with the inbred kid and the banjo.
Some of the people that float the river would scare that kid away, and if he was there playing his little banjo, he would probably get beer bottles thrown at him, poor little inbred kid...
Boise has now decided to outlaw beer while floating the river, since we have an abundance of drunks in this city, it has not gone too well. If you get caught drinking an alcoholic beverage on the river, a prompt death sentence will occur, or a $300.00 fine.
Next on the city's agenda: No drinking in bars!

Snake River Canyon and Swan Falls Dam

by redknot

This takes a bit of driving to get to but is a rewarding trip. Most of the drive South from Boise is along Western Heritage Scenic Byway and through the Snake River Birds of Prey Conservation area.

The total one-way trip from Boise to the Swan Falls Dam is about 30 miles.

The first place to stop is Dedication Point where there is parking, some informational signs, and after a short walk, your first view of the Snake River Canyon. This was very impressive to me especially since the drive up to that point was across a very flat, desert-like landscape.

After spending some time looking at the Canyon and at the birds, continue driving to the Swan Falls Dam area. Here there is a road down to the river level, parking, bathrooms, and picnic areas. There is also the Dam itself with a powerhouse that is open at limited times for visitor access. Even when the powerhouse is closed, it is a beautiful and impressive area to visit.

Statue of Governor Steunenburg

by atufft

Despite world fame for having lost several presidents by assassination, loss of public officials through violence is really quite rare. Even more rare is to lose a governor by assassination. Governor Steunenburg was assassinated outside his home in 1905, five years after leaving office. Within two years, a memorial committee was formed and by 1927 this life sized statue was in place. Idaho thus has a unenviable shame within its history which is memorialized by a statue directly in front of the Capitol Building. The bronze statue and commemoration plate are a substantial work, and the flowers around it plentiful, but the concrete foundation steps are cracked and in need of replacement. Hopefully, this will be done as part of the Capitol Dome restoration project, but for now there remains access to this statue. See link below for specific details regarding this memorial statue.

Boise Idaho

by rsleisk

Boise was a very nice, artsy, college town. The city has a great downtown district with preserved turn of the century buildings converted to businesses, bars and restaurants. There are many greenspaces and well the mountains are right there.

I was working in Mountain Home at the AFB and well there isn't really anything to do in Mountain Home so I drove to Boise about 45 minutes away.

The road there is very desolate especially at night, for Mountain Home is really a misnomer of a name, the city is in the Idaho near flat desert, grant it the desert is surrounded by mountains.

The best thing about Mountain Home was that it is centrally located and I was able to take a drive to beautiful Sun Valley and Ketchum.

"Boise from afar..."

This is a photo taken from the winding road that meanders its way toward Bogus Mountain. Below in the valley you can see Boise.

"Bogus Mountain Ski Park"

Bogus Mountain is a good sized and beautiful ski park only minutes from Boise.