Boise, ID

Sometimes plans don’t turn out quite like a person would want them to; but in the end sort of turn out for the better. Such as last Wednesday; it started out with an article written that stated that the Idaho Statesmen would be giving out tickets to people who sent in a correct answer to ‘”Gone with the Wind” was the first broadcast for which cable television station?’ to

nn Morrison was by far much bigger, but Albertson Park made up for being smaller by being a bird habitat; which made it all the more appealing. It was way more enclosed with a pathway that was made of neatly placed rock with grass and trees surrounding the people all around. For the most part they wanted people to stay on the path and not wander off into the uncut grass where most of the birds live. It was nice because the trees seemingly drowned out the city noise and made it seem like we were in the middle of a forested area.

Monday nights are great from 5-8 because the Parade of Homes is free on Mondays while it goes on. So my fiance’ and I took advantage of that offer and headed off. We didn’t really know where we were going but we did have the magazine that showed us where all the houses were located. To say the least we were pretty much in a hurry because he didn’t get home till 6:30.

After the old Idaho State Pen closed and was abandoned back in the early 70’s, it became a curious playground for those of us whom lived in the area. Part of it’s mystery was a few dusty cattle trails and an abandoned wagon road. The road was used by inmates to haul sandstone cut from the cliffs above the prison-used in its construction.

It’s history was pretty much a mystery to us, until it was placed on the Historical Register. The Penitentiary became a tourist attraction and museum. The dusty trails, became part of the Ridge to Rivers Trails System.

After we spent time gazing at the gushing Lucky Peak Dam we decided to head towards the park which was pretty big and not that far away from where the dam was located. There where tons of people there sitting on benches and lounging in the grass. Most of them where barbecuing and having what looked to me to be a jolly good time.

With the crazy spring weather the Treasure Valley had been experiencing, and another 20 degree drop in temp forcasted for the following day, who knew when it might be warm enough to venture outside again. My kids and I decided to grab the opportunity for a morning outing to check out the new greenbelt along Indian Creek in downtown Caldwell, and spent a pleasant hour or so meandering, sitting on rocks, and generally getting the feel of the place. The very first thing we spotted was a fountain, which my daughter immediately decided to make her project for the day.

I did a double take, when I first read my charter slip. They wanted me to take third graders from Garfield Elementary School to the landfill. As that wasn‘t bad enough-come mid-morning, I was to drive to the Waste Water Treatment Plant to have lunch with them! “You got to be kidding me,” I thought!

The Ada County Landfill is about a mile and a quarter up Seaman’s Gulch Road, just northeast of Hill Road. As I pulled my bus into the landfill parking lot, we were met by our tour guide-Ted. He spent a few minutes giving us a general overview on the landfill and its operations.

Last Friday around five my fiance Andrew realized that he needed to send his hard drive back to get it replaced with a new one. This involved going to the nearest post office in a timely manner. Luckily they weren’t busy so we sent his hard drive off . That done, we were simply going to go home, but we realized that there was a park right by the post office that we’d never been to so we decided to check it out.

Making a special trip to the park never used to be a huge deal to me. But then again the only park I went to was a pathetic excuse for a park compared to Ann Morrison Park in Boise. Now I’ve seemingly changed. After being cooped up in the house for a whole week without getting out much it’s nice to go out; even to a park. That’s why the weekends are