It was a good five day trip to Boise, Idaho. We got in Sunday afternoon, September 18, and flew out on Friday the 23rd. The first half was occupied with “work stuff”, a conference. Emee and I had the last few days “off” to play around.
This is my second time in Boise, the first happened last year. Last year’s trip was what finally convinced us to buy Bromptons: The bike share system was MIA (it returned this year with electric bikes), the loaner bikes from the hotel looked janky and poorly maintained, and we didn’t feel like spending big bucks on a rental from a shop. We didn’t want our future flying trips to be bikeless, so we joined the cult of the folding bicycle.
We did put our Bromptons to good use on this trip. Downtown is pretty compact and fairly walkable, but the Bromptons helped us explore further than that. Our biggest rides were along the Greenbelt that follows the Boise River. Sure, we could have walked a bit of it, but we wouldn’t have gotten as far. It also made getting to the historic Boise Depot easier.
Besides the Greenbelt and downtown, we didn’t venture that far out. We explored the older neighborhoods of the North Side a bit, that’s about it. Boise is pretty sprawly, and the old, pre-war part is small. 1 While there might be a few interesting things to see in the outer districts, we didn’t feel any motivation, bikes or no.
Five days was plenty, a bit too long in my opinion. But I’d rather feel like I’ve spent too long at a destination than not enough. Sure, “not enough” motivates one to return, as our short trip to Boise last year did. But now I’ve got a good feel of the place. Maybe next time I will borrow or rent a “big bike” for a bit–Bromptons are great for flatter city riding, not as great for gravel and mountains, which lies just outside of town. But there are other places I’d love to explore as well.
1 The other major city of the Interior Northwest, Spokane, is currently the same size of Boise at about 230,000. But Spokane’s 1940 population was 122,000 while Boise’s was a paltry 26,000. Spokane feels more like a “city” than Boise because of this.
Urban Adventure League 
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