The notes section of my notebook was relatively desolate after today’s drive from Salt Lake City to Boise, ID. I decided this morning that the 11 hour drive from SLC to Bend was going to be too much and given the halfway point, excitedly settled on splitting the drive.

8 years ago, I traveled to Boise, Idaho for the first time. My aunt had recently moved there from Berkeley, California (via Ogden, Utah) with her boyfriend (now husband). For most people the idea of visiting an aunt seems arduous, at best. Aunts are, inevitably, weird invasive versions of your parents. This aunt, however, was never that. She was always the “cool aunt” (apologies to my two other aunts who will certainly not read this, but in the event that they somehow do, they’re cool too. I’m not playing favorites. I promise). Years younger than my father (10, give or take) she listened to Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. and lived in San Francisco and Berkeley and basically did all of the things I would have done had I been born in the early-70s. And really, she never treated me like a nephew. She treated me as a “future equal” if that makes sense. She treated me like someone who could be like her, some day. And I always appreciated that. In short, she served as a guide for what I wanted to be like: cool, free-spirited, and adventurous.

And so, if visiting the aunt wasn’t the problem, surely visiting a place like Boise, Idaho would be. I mean, all they do is eat potatoes and vote for people named C.L. Butch Otter in Idaho, right?

Well, unfortunately, part of that is true. But there is so much more to Boise than anyone who hasn’t been there has ever really given any thought to. Boise is, as my bartender/server tonight put it, like a really perfect melding of the snobbery of Seattle and the friendliness of Portland.

8 years ago, I was barely 21, yet my very cool aunt and very cool soon-to-be-uncle took me to bars and nice dinners and showed me how cool this little pocket of western Idaho could be. I was star-struck.

But I was also just 21.

I returned to Boise at the age of 26, this time with Amanda (who had heard for years, how awesome this town was) to visit my aunt, uncle, and their newborn (one month old, at the time) child. I didn’t think for a second that my years of expectation-building would win over Amanda. She is, after all, I think slightly predisposed to balance out my extremes of LOVE! and HATE! And yet, a few days into our trip, with no real provocation, she turned to me in the car and said, (paraphrasing slightly), “This place is really great.” The tone in her voice evoked surprise and I completely understood it. You don’t come to Boise expecting to have your entire life’s prejudices altered, but Boise does it for you, if you give it the chance.

Today, given the opportunity to return, I did. My aunt and uncle and niece have moved on to Bend, Oregon, but I was still filled with excitement when I woke up this morning, thinking about that first moment that I would see Downtown Boise from I-84.

I had a wonderful solo dinner at a new restaurant in town called The Dish. Put a mixed greens salad, a plate of sous vide chicken thighs in a nutty mole, and a hoppy IPA in front of me and I’m generally happier than Mumford and Sons at a suspenders convention. And that held true here. My bartender was a real gem; a wonderfully pleasant guy from northern Washington, two years into his time in Boise, who was more than happy to talk beer snobbery with a fellow beer snob. After dinner, I moved on to a hip brewery (based in Bend) called 10 Barrel, where I pulled up a seat at the bar, enjoyed another IPA, and watched some of the Boise State/Utah State game. As I walked back to my hotel, I approached a real, live record store. I spent about a half hour walking around, looking at used and new cds and vinyl, before ultimately making one purchase (I refuse to tell you that it was Bob Seger’s Greatest Hits for $7) and commenting to the clerk, essentially, “wow.”

Tomorrow morning, I plan on eating at Goldy’s Breakfast Bistro. Goldy’s is, in my mind, the best breakfast spot in America (sorry to my Philly pals who would cite Sabrina’s, which is also phenomenal). I’ll savor that mile walk to Goldy’s knowing that it may very well be my last walk in this amazing city, as my reasons to come here dwindle.

If the variables were different (less harsh winter, any sort of base for Democratic politics, Amanda being willing to move to the Gem State), I’d move to Boise in a heartbeat. But life doesn’t always work out that way, and that’s fine. I just know that whenever I get the chance to come back here, I will. And I’ll love it just as much as I did almost 10 years ago, when I first laid eyes on the Mountain West.

Notes:

-I’d be remiss if I didn’t give some mention to the great state of Nevada. I took the long way from SLC, west on I-80 into the Silver State. Perhaps I would fill differently about Nevada had I not spent 5 1/2 years working for the best senator Nevada has ever seen, but I’ve come to truly love the state. I understand its regional politics and what matters where. I understand its challenges. I understand its achievements. And, more than anything, I love being surrounded by its life. Many people would look at a state like Nevada and think, “barren.” But I really feel like I see and experience something different there. The mountains, the near-limitless desert landscape, I just feel a connection there. So, taking the drive from Wendover to Wells, then up US93 to Jackpot today, I felt kind of at home, even if my birth certificate would tell you that home was much further away.

-No new states today, though I did see multiple Georgia plates in Nevada which seemed odd.

-I reached mile 3000 at milepost 32 on US93 in Idaho today. Exact time: 2:11 p.m. (MDT). Total driving time: 49 hours, 25 minutes.

-Tomorrow, I’ll take the short drive west on US20 to Bend, Oregon, where I will spend a few days with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. After that, I’m thinking about spending a few days in Los Angeles, another city I’ve come to really appreciate. So if you’re reading this and in LA, let me know. I’d love to talk to real live human beings when I get there.

Thank you again for reading this. The wind did not cooperate with me posting a Facebook video blog today. I hope that you’re having a safe, fun, and explorative Columbus Day weekend.