Sean Gillies (Posts about boise)https://sgillies.net/tags/boise.atom2023-12-31T01:26:25ZSean GilliesNikolaRocky mountains and famous potatoeshttps://sgillies.net/2019/01/03/rocky-mountains-famous-potatoes.html2019-01-03T14:33:01-07:002019-01-03T14:33:01-07:00Sean Gillies<p>We spent Christmas at home in Fort Collins and saved our travel for the New
Year. Yesterday we flew from Denver to Boise to visit my Mom and stepfather.
The views on this route can be spectacular when the sky is clear, and it was.
Waypoints on the flight: Berthoud Pass; Dinosaur National Monument; Evanston,
Wyoming; Cache Valley and Logan, UT; Twin Falls, ID; and finally, Boise.</p>
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<p>Peaks of the Colorado Front Range</p>
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<p>The Green River and Canyon of Lodore</p>
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<p>The Wasatch and Wellsville Ranges and Logan, Utah</p>
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<p>There is almost no snow on the ground in Boise, but it's cold. Not too cold to
run, however, and I had a good one along the river today. Tomorrow I'm going to
do a longer run up in the hills above downtown.</p>Thanksgivinghttps://sgillies.net/2017/11/27/thanksgiving.html2017-11-27T08:15:00-07:002017-11-27T08:15:00-07:00Sean Gillies<p>Last Wednesday night my family and I flew to Boise, Idaho, to spend
Thanksgiving with my mom and stepfather. The six of us spent the holiday
cooking, eating, walking around the neighborhood, playing cards, and assembling
a jigsaw puzzle. We agreed not to discuss politics, not because any of us are
Trump supporters, but because the state of the U.S. is too depressing and
frustrating. My family is a lot like Boise itself, an amiable liberal island
in a sea of retrograde white resentment.</p>
<p>I forget how big Boise is now. It's the Pacific Northwest's number 3 metro,
after Seattle and Portland. The cities of Boise, Nampa, Meridian, Garden City,
and Eagle together count almost 700,000 people. My folks live in a bland 30
year-old suburb in the southwest part of the city. We mostly stuck around their
neighborhood but did make a trip to the the west end of State St and the Boise
River to skip rocks and look for birds.</p>
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<p>The Boise River</p>
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<p>Boise is on the same latitude, 43°37′N, as Montpellier, France, where we spent
our previous Thanksgiving weekend. It's a funny coincidence that I didn't see
until this morning. I remember remarking to Ruth that the bright yellow lichen
on trees by the river reminded me of the chestnut groves in the foothills of
the Pyrénées.</p>
<p>On the way home we flew over the northeast corner of Utah, Cache Valley, and my
former hometown of Logan. I'll never tire of this aerial view of backcountry
places I've driven and walked so many times. And when the sky is clear the
approach to Denver from the west never disappoints.</p>
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<p>Longs Peak on the descent to DEN</p>
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