Three Weeks in Boise

 

A wine-tasting visit to Ste. Chapelle Winery

Caldwell, actually. But Caldwell was as close to Boise as we could get an affordable RV park with availability. It's about a 30-minute drive to Boise from there, and Boise is where Katie and her family are now living. They moved there from Lancaster, CA, at the first of May.

When we originally made our plans, we intended to arrive in Caldwell at the first of May so that we could help with Sophie while Katie and Brent looked for jobs and an apartment. But Mark's stroke delayed us and a May arrival was not to be. As it turned out, Katie found a wonderful job the very first week she began her hunt-- actually the first application she submitted resulted in a call. The company scheduled an interview for the next day and hired her practically on the spot (ten minutes after she left the interview.  They were fortunate to find an apartment by the first of July, so by the time we arrived, they no longer needed much in the way of child care assistance. Still, I had a couple opportunities while they shopped for furniture and such, which I made the most of.

With Katie working all week, our visits were confined primarily to the weekends. Other than one wine-tasting excursion, we mostly just hung out, either at her apartment or at our RV. 

One of the things Katie researched in the Boise area before making the move was a good school for Sophie. She found a Christian school in Nampa that had affordable tuition and looked good from a distance. As with most Christian schools, it was connected to a church, which we all checked out the last Sunday Mark and I were there. It did not disappoint. We also got a tour of the school the following Monday, and Katie signed up her little five-year old for Kindergarten. It's hard to believe Sophie is already starting school. Now they'll be looking for an apartment in Nampa once their lease is up.

It was not an exciting three weeks, but a very satisfying time. For some reason, neither Mark nor I had the inclination to sight-see or do much of anything else while we were there, other than a couple swim days at the pool in Katie's apartment complex. Next year we'll see some sights. They have a "Snake River Birds of Prey" center that looked interesting.

That's it for this post. Here are a few pictures of our time there...

Refrigerator Art

Stickers for Grandma

Playing "Restaurant" is a favorite game. Do you want a potato?

A smoky sunset in Caldwell
(smoke is from a huge fire currently raging in Oregon)

Sophie, swimming with Dad

Hanging out at the pool

Waiting for furniture to arrive...Sophie at her "art" table. 

Visiting the Spokane Family

My family has a lot of history in the Spokane area. My first job was at a travel service downtown. It was a pretty city back then. Married my first husband in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and three of my four children were born there. Even though most of the family uprooted decades ago, two of my children and one of my brothers (Mark) returned and now call Spokane home. For that reason, it has become a regular summer stop for us.

Our stay this year was a little shorter than last year. We spent a week at our usual campground in Cheney-- Ponderosa Falls. It is an RPI park and our membership makes it very affordable at $10 a night. Unfortunately, our membership only lets us stay a week. We picked up an extra weekend at another small park in Cheney (Peaceful Pines), but most of the camping options around Spokane are too high-priced for our pocketbook. An option we might have considered was the Spokane Fair Grounds RV Park, but they were still shut down "due to Covid." Maybe next year.

So to compensate for the shorter time, we just packed all the days with visiting. My son, Josh, took a few days off work and we spent those days and part of each weekend with his family. And the rest of the time we spent with Liz and her family (and neighbors), mostly hanging out in lawn chairs in front of her apartment building. 

Adam trying out his new red ball and Grandpa's shoes.

On one of our days with Josh, we took an excursion to Coeur d'Alene and walked around the downtown area for a little while. It's become quite a tourist attraction since I lived there. Little Adam enjoyed walking around on the beach for a bit, but we couldn't stay too long because two year-olds have a fairly short endurance.

Downtown Coeur d'Alene
Mark, me, Nicole and Adam

One evening we had everyone out to our campsite for a cookout. Chris (Liz's sweetheart) did the cooking for us. He makes a living cooking for Outback Steak House, and that man knows his stuff! We had baby potatoes and asparagus cooked on the grill, hot dogs and burgers, and a fruit tray. It was a delicious. feast.

I spared one Friday afternoon for a visit with my brother, Mark. Liz bade me stop at Fieldhouse, where she works, and sent me off with pizza, cheese sticks, a "Cubano" sandwich and a little tub of clam chowder for our dinner. If you're ever in Spokane, Fieldhouse (on the north side) makes spectacular food (I know the cook personally! 😉)

That pretty much sums up our stay in Spokane. We left there on Monday, the first day of the horrific heat wave. I'll talk about that little adventure in my next post.

Stay cool, folks! And as always-- Safe Travels & God Bless!

Picture Gallery

(pardon the windshield bugs)

What's that helicopter doing???

Our overnight rest stop on the western edge of Montana

It's wonderful when you can put out your slides.

Coming into Coeur d'Alene on I-90 westbound

Adam is much friendlier with Mark (men in general)

The goal is to grab his straw...or his glasses...or whatever
else he can get his little hands on

Strolling the beach (Adam with dad right behind)

Our site at Peaceful Pines in Cheney

Granddaughter Leah (16)

Granddaughter Savannah (19)

Granddaughter Haylee (25)

Grandson Adam (2), sporting Mom's sunglasses