Our first week of Winnie’s Big Trip was spent in Boise, which unbeknownst to us is also known as the City of Trees. This turned out to be a pretty apt description given that one of our first observations was how gorgeous (and delightfully shaded) the tree-lined streets were in the neighborhood we first stayed in.

”First stayed in” is the operative phrase here as our trip unfortunately got off to a rocky start when our internet cut out for 9 hours on our first full day. It turned out the router which needed to be restarted was located in the unit next door to us (a befuddling arrangement) and the guests in that unit were gone the entire day. Given the mild importance of reliable internet for remote working, we decided to move Airbnbs and managed to find a another unit that was just 10 minutes away and even closer to the Boise River!

The Boise River turned out to be one of the major highlights of our trip. Winnie waded in a few times (a big win for our typically water-averse dog) and it made for a great running locale as well. The Boise River is known for floating and even surfing as there are certain spots in the river where waves have been created by these dam-like structures.

Other Boise highlights included:

• A thunderstorm (good for us, bad for Winnie)
• A super walkable and not-so-busy downtown area
• A general feeling of safety
• Great food (a tomato basil bisque fondue with mini grilled cheese squares for dipping easily tops the list)

That said, there were some lowlights as well, including:

• The punishing 100+ degree heat combined with smoke from wildfires nearly every day (thought California had called dibs on that)
• The thunderstorm (double edged sword since it made Winnie anxious for hours)
• A pettier observation, but we noticed there was a TON of overgrowth from people’s yards into the sidewalks. We bravely managed to overcome our frustration about this when running, but it left us wondering: who is usually responsible for dealing with overgrowth? Home owners? The city? Hit us up if you know the nuances of residential foliage laws!

By what we predict will be popular demand, here is our overall rating breakdown:

• How much we’d like to visit again: 5/10. This is a neutral score. We enjoyed Boise but there was nothing spectacular about it.
• How much we’d like to live here: 7/10. We could actually envision living here since its cute, walkable, has lots of trees, and a beautiful river to paddle around in/run next to.