Well, I've finally managed to get this blog up and running - and I've got an interesting topic for my first post: Boise. For the past year, we've been looking into possibly relocating there to purchase our first home. So this Summer, we decided to spend a few weeks checking our the area. More than a 14 hour drive from Southern CA, but it was worth it. Boise was just what I imagined it would be. Very different from California... Very green and clean, lots to do, lots of places to check out, the people are so nice and the weather was awesome. In what was record breaking heat for Boise, some days more than 106... it felt more like 95 degrees, the breeze was cool and on the days that were cooler, we were able to experience Boise rain, thunder & lightning... in July! Very unusual for us, but the locals informed me that it's quite normal for Summers to be unpredictably humid and wet at times. I've always loved the smell of rain but it was even better there. I couldn't just smell the rain... I could smell the trees too and that was awwwwesome. The downtown area was amazing. Much bigger than anything we're used to in Orange County. There was so much street art, so much color and so many inspirational quotes splattered all over the walls in what the locals call "Freak Alley". I felt at home there.
In a way, it was hard to be there, away from everyone I love here in CA. Like, how can I fully enjoy all these new and wonderful things without wishing I was able to enjoy it with my friends and family? It was a big eye-opener for me. When it rained, I thought of my parents. My dad would have loved the smell of rain & the trees. My mom would've enjoyed seeing the Botanical Gardens. I know most of my friends would've had a blast in downtown, my nephew would've been so excited to go river rafting, and my best friend would have been in heaven wandering around the Old Idaho Penitentiary. As much as I enjoyed doing all these things with my husband and my daughter, it still made me kinda sad to be so far away from everyone we love. Of course, I knew that if we do move to Boise... whenever that is... I'd miss them all everyday. I took as many photos as I could to share when we got home. You can check out the gallery of more photos from the trip here!