Boise

At work Trav is working on a hospital in Boise, Idaho and has to travel there about once a month. We decided that since it's summer and we could, that the kids and I would tag along this time. It ended up being a really great trip...and since it was a work expense it was almost free! Even better. We hardly got to see Trav which totally stunk but overall I'm glad we went.

We left on Monday afternoon and the trip was pretty uneventful until we made our pit stop in Twin Falls. We stopped for lunch then decided to go look at the bridge over the gorge (which is gigantic and you can't even tell it's there from the freeway. It's really crazy.)  While we were at the bridge there were a bunch of guys putting parachutes into backpacks. I asked one of them if they were going to jump off the bridge and he said "Yeah! It's so fun! You should try it! Do you want me to strap you on with me?" Ummmm no. I didn't even dare walk on the bridge because it's way too high and scary for me let alone jump off it! (Trav, Josh and Kate did walk across the bridge though) 

Now we were totally kicking ourselves because our camera was neatly packed in the bottom of the trunk. Not only did we miss out on some awesome pictures with the bridge but now some guys were jumping off of it! So when they started walking up we ran over (along with all of the Japanese tourists) and watched 7 or 8 guys jump off the bridge with parachutes and land right by the river below. It was so cool!!

The rest of the ride was uneventful again. We made it to our hotel (which was awesome). They had dinner provided that night then we walked over to the gigantic park that was right next to the hotel. I mean, it was HUGE! We were all exhausted by the time we even made it halfway through the park to the fountain.

The next morning Trav was long gone to meetings before the rest of us woke up, so we went and had our delicious continental breakfast then we headed back over to the park. This time we drove because we wanted to play and not be exhausted from walking.

First we went in the fountains again. This time I brought my camera.

 Josh and Kate came prepared wearing their swimsuits.

 Not that Kate was really going to get too close....

 William just ran around and around the whole time and loved it.

 Josh was pretty proud to find a broken squirt soaker in the garbage can. Yeah, it really was broken.

 She did get a little more brave.

 Look at her totally awesome magic trick! (Or just totally awesome timing on a picture)

 Will thought he'd try out the squirt gun.

 Stick 'em up, brother!

 Josh was the bravest one getting wet.

 After the fountain we went over to the playground which was huge and really fun.

 Then I wanted to go see the river..... so we did.

 The kids started wading in and it was cold!

 How is it, Will?

 I'm kind of glad it was so cold because it was big and swift, so the kids weren't too tempted to get in very far.

 Why is the one without a swimsuit on, the one that's getting in the farthest?

 She made it all the way up to her waist!

 That's the time when the ducks came. You could tell they were used to nice people with actual food that would feed them. Little did they know that we didn't have any food with us so my kids were throwing sticks for them to eat. They did eventually find some berries that the ducks liked. I'm surprised they stuck around as long as they did.

 We had a picnic lunch at the park then headed back to the hotel to swim. The kids loved to swim. I, on the other hand, do not like to swim. (Thankfully) it was about time for William's nap so we had to head back to the room to hang out while he slept. We played some games and watched a lot of t.v. We really don't watch too much at home so this really was a vacation and I felt like we watched WAY too much while we were there. I did discover H.G.T.V. though. That was fun.

The hotel did provide dinner again tonight but it was smoked sausage which the kids turned their noses up at so we decided to go out to dinner once Trav came "home." We ate some pizza which was good then we headed over to the furthest part of the giant park to explore. It was gorgeous!! Definitely my favorite part of the park but we forgot our big camera so these are just phone pictures. It totally doesn't capture the beauty.

 Look at all those lillypads!!

 Kate took it upon herself to collect goose feathers. There were geese and ducks EVERYWHERE!

 They had giant rock letters that the kids climbed on for a while.

 Those of us with our letter of our first name got individual shots....

 It really said "Albertson" for the founders of the park. I'm totally kicking myself that we didn't take the good camera and get some good pictures. We even saw 2 bunnies! So fun.

 The next day we started off by swimming and had the pool to ourselves.

 Or the hot tub....whichever you prefer....

 Here's Rachel's "cannonball." I do have to tell you that 2 weeks of swim lessons have done wonders for my kids. Now they are little fish. Especially Rach.

 I got Josh's jump picture a second too late....

 Kate wouldn't jump in but she did "flap" for the picture.

We went back to the room for lunch. Now this room was awesome! Here is the loft where Rach, Kate and William slept. This place was huge!

 They were looking out the window waiting for daddy. I wish he could have been around more often but that's what you get for a a work trip!

 Somebody was tired.

 On the main floor we had a full kitchen! It was awesome!

 Here's the "front room" where Josh slept on the couch. I think he just wanted his own t.v. at night to watch Shark Week because the girls didn't want to watch that. Then Trav and I also had our own room and bathroom. Not to shabby of a place to stay in for a few days, huh?

 This day we decided to be a little more adventurous and go tour the old Boise jail.It was a little creepy and I didn't know how the kids would do but this was definitely one of the biggest highlights of the trip for me.

 We got them locked up pretty quick.

 But somehow they managed to break free!

 I wasn't able to read all the plaques or really get to know the history of this place but it was built in 1872 but the prisoners rioted in 1973 and burned several building down. That's when they shut it down as a working prison but kept it open as a historical landmark. This is a picture of one of the buildings that was destroyed.

 Then we made it into one of the buildings with cells. It is SO hard to imagine them living here and what went on here. Josh is a (short) 8 year old boy and he barely fit on the cots that those grown men actually slept on. The cells were so small and they'd fit 2-4 men in each cell. It was crazy!

 This building to me was one of the most shocking because the cells were so bad and look how many cells there were there!.......Can you imagine what it would be like to be locked in there with that many prisoners and what you would hear? Uggghh. That just gives me the chills.

 

This building was actually a little better. They actually had toilets and sinks in their cells. 

(The first ones did not)

 Here's a closer look of the "nicer" ones.

 They also had a weaponry museum in one of the buildings which was pretty cool. Josh especially loved seeing all the weapons through the years.

 This looks like a rough crew.....

 It was just so stark and bleak. It was hard to imagine what it would be like to be locked in those walls.

 This is "Siberia" or where solitary confinement was.

 Here's inside Siberia. They'd be locked in there with only one small hole in the ceiling as light or fresh air. Their food would be put through those small doors. It was crazy because in the cells you could see drawings prisoners had drawn on the walls and almost every drawing was like a calendar.....they were marking off how many days they had been in there because I'm sure it was hard to keep track before you start losing your mind.

 But "Siberia" wasn't the creepiest part. The worst part was the high security building. I didn't take a picture of that. That's where they'd put the worst and most dangerous prisoners, and also where they had death row and the gallows. It was crazy because the instant we walked in the building I had this heavy feeling in my chest. I hadn't even seen the cells or anything yet....just walked in the building and I felt like I was having a hard time breathing. It really makes me wonder what went on in there.....but I really don't want to know. It just felt wrong.

The cells weren't anything too out of the ordinary but then we walked into this room and it was labeled "viewing area" or something like that. Just this room with a big window in it to see into another room. I looked through the window and there was a hook on the ceiling and a drop floor underneath. We found the gallows and were in the room people would go to witness prisoners being hung! It was SO creepy! Thankfully the kids were pretty oblivious (to most things...they thought it was cool that we were in a jail) so we didn't stay there long. We went down the stairs to go out the door and we walked right by the room (which the kids didn't stop to see, thankfully) where they would drop the bodies and haul them out the doors we were about to go through. Just a big cement room with a drain.

I have the chills just thinking about it. The instant we went out those doors I started breathing normal again and that heavy feeling was gone. It is so strange how 4 walls and a ceiling can have that effect on you. This prison hasn't been in operation for like 40 years and it still has that feeling. Totally creepy!

 Across the street was where the women were kept. It was 1 building, much smaller and nicer...but still smelled like urine.

 I thought it was completely fascinating. I think it would be a whole different experience not being there with kids. They were able to help keep it light, and fun which I really appreciated. I want to read more about this prison though and find some books about the history and the riots and everything. Very fascinating!

 After breaking out of the jail we needed smoothies....and more park time! So that's just what we did.

 We went out to dinner again because the hotel only provided waffle sundaes this night (which we took advantage of after dinner...isn't that awesome?) But there was a crazy huge storm that came through! So we hunkered down and watched t.v. again.

The next day Trav had one short meeting and was back while we were still eating breakfast. Then we packed up and started heading home. Oh, I forgot to mention that William threw up all over the place that night too. That was fun.

We made it to Twin Falls and we decided to take a little break and get some lunch. We pulled up in the Subway parking lot and as Trav is pulling William out of his car seat he throws up again! At the exact same instant as she's jumping out of the car....Kate throws up too! So we have 2 puddles of barf on both sides of the car. Talk about good timing for a pit stop!!!

We cleaned everyone up, some of us ate lunch then we headed back on the road hoping we could make it home in one piece. Thankfully, William was done. Kate threw up again but we were prepared with a barf bag so we just tied a knot and kept driving. Then a while later she said she was going to throw up again and we were out of barf bags! I grabbed the Subway cup and handed it to her just in time. She handed me the cup back, I put the lid on and stuck it in the drink holder....because what else was I supposed to do with it? Trav was like, "If I start reaching for a drink....please stop me!" It was gross but kind of funny.

We made it home, got rid of all the "bags" and have been dealing with sick kids ever since!

Even though it wasn't the most eventful trip ever, we did do a lot of fun things and made some great memories. It was the perfect little getaway for our family. We may just have to do it again!