August 5, 2016 - Boise & Eagle, ID

Again, it was a beautiful morning.  After breakfast we went over to Elaine’s place to pick Sheila up to go sightseeing with us for the day.  

Original plan was to visit Table Rock, but the smoke had thickened somewhat and the visibility was not that great for viewing from the top of the foothills. So, we postponed the trip to a better day.  

Vintage GE Sign
Erwin wanted a picture of it because
he used to work for GE in Illinois

Sheila had some places in mind for us to visit.  She suggested to go to Ann Morrison Park first. There were lots of Canadian geese.  The park was very quiet, but there were people with tubes waiting to get on Boise River. There is a shuttle bus that drops/picks up rafters.

Sheila was trying to get the geese to take off, so
Edith can capture pictures of them in flight.
It did not work!

Sheila suggested to go to Boise Train Depot that has an old locomotive on display.  The depot was closed, but we were able to see the Big Mike locomotive which was outside, next to the depot.  Big Mike was put in service by the Union Pacific Railroad to haul freight from North Platte, Nebraska to Huntington, Oregon.  It did, for a while, hauled passenger trains, but was put back to freight service. It was retired in 1959. There is a small garden along with a pond that had goldfishes in front of the depot. 

Sheila at the Cave near the Depot

Big Mike Locomotive
It was built in June 1920

Coming down the road from the depot we could see the haze of smoke that blanketed the city limiting your far away sights.

We had lunch at Elmer’s, which was a stone’s throw from the depot. The food was good.

Not too far from Elmer’s is Boise State University (BSU) campus. Edith wanted to see the blue turf at BSU Stadium, but while we were cruising by we found out that all gates were closed.  There was a Coca-Cola vendor unloading cases of soda and Sheila asked him if there was any way we could go inside the stadium.  “No, no one is allowed to go in there”, he said.  Well, we were in luck because as we were ready to leave the stadium there was a sign notifying that BSU Hall of Fame is open to visitors.  “Let’s go in and find out", Edith signed to Sheila.  Both of them got out of the Jeep, walked inside the hall of fame.  Lo and behold!  There was a back door that you can go out and take a look at the stadium and the famous blue turf.  

Inside the Hall of Fame

Here is the blue turf!

Bronco Statue in front of the Hall of Fame

Now that Edith is satisfied with getting pictures of the blue turf we went off to Julia Davis Botanical Garden that has all different kinds of roses.  Many of them we had never seen before.  Interesting colors and shapes.  In 1899 Julia and her husband Tom offered the city 30 to 40 acres of land for a public park if the city would take care of it. The city, at first, refused to accept the gift, but in 1907 the land was deeded to the city.  Since then the land had grown to 87 acres. It was starting to get hot when we walked among the rose garden.  

There is an apple in Julia Davis' hand and
Sheila was trying to get a bite of it!

After leaving the Garden Sheila directed us to an old log cabin that was the first home in Boise and also a place of worship. It was built by John O’Farrell in 1863. Mr. O’Farrell, an Irishman, cleared his land and built a single room cabin for his young wife and family on Fort Street. In 1910 the O’Farrell children offered the cabin to the Daughters of the American Revolution.

All of us were already exhausted from the day’s trip and the heat.  We did not do anything special for rest of the night.