Five Free Things To Do In Boise

Boise is the City of Trees.  I’ve lived here for two years now, having moved from Los Angeles, where I grew up.  While I miss the diversity of food, I definitely do not miss the traffic.  Despite its size, there is so much to do in Boise, especially with your children.

Warhawk Museum, Nampa Idaho (Near Boise)

It’s still the summer of Idaho and my family and I are hell bent on learning about our new home state. Here’s a pithy lesson: don’t try to discover Nampa, Idaho on a Sunday. The town is D E A D. Closed. Rolled up. TheFlying M Coffee Garage was open. I’m used to the one in downtown Boise: hipsters, great gift shop, local art – and you have to be New-York-aggressive to find a place to sit.

In Nampa, there is plenty of space (well, especially on a Sunday) to stretch out, plug in your laptop and get to work. Same great coffee and pastries. And hipsters. Much cooler and expansive space.

Our purpose in Nampa was to go to the Warhawk Air Museum, inside a hangar at the Nampa airport. The mission of the museum is to teach and preserve America’s history during times of war from the home front to the war front and aviation history from the advent of flight through the space age. The museum has two of only a few remaining Curtiss P-40 World War II Fighter Airplanes left in the world and a very rare World War II P-51C Mustang Fighter Airplane. It’s got lots of actual planes that you can’t touch and plenty of memorabilia if you are an aviation history buff.

Here’s the rub: my family includes no aviation history buffs. My 5 and 7 year olds were plenty put out at not being able to touch the airplanes. Still, if aviation history is your thing, you should definitely come to the museum. You will be in good company. We were the interlopers. Also, to get us all in the door, it cost $28 – kind of steep for a half hour of “fun.”

My daughter decided that she would practice her on-camera presence, as she has seen mommy do many times.  I'll let you see how she's coming along.  She's 5 1/2:

After a lap at the museum, you can watch planes take off and land at the Blue Sky Café at the Nampa Airport. It’s a burger and sandwich kind of place and its view of the runway is top notch. We saw a tiny little airplane (see, no technical knowledge have I) take off and then buzz the runway before disappearing into the wild blue yonder. That was free. And that was FUN.

Hipster Boise: Modern Art at the Modern Hotel

Save the date! First Thursday in May, 2012 (May 3): 

Modern Art at the Modern Hotel in Boise, Idaho. Yes: Boise.

Last week, Cinco de Mayo AND First Thursday in Boise, we went to "Modern Art 2011" at the Modern Hotel.

It's a great concept whereby the hotel invites local artists to be their guest and transform the design hotel’s 38 Mid-Century modern rooms into everything from...
mini-gallery spaces to
interactive pieces to
full scale installations.

What does this mean?  A crowd of art-hungry Boiseans descend on the Modern Hotel where artists show their art on the walls, the bed, above the toilet.

We tried to get there early, knowing how crowded it can get -- who knew there were so many groovy people in Boise? We went in and out of rooms (and bathrooms) where we saw:

Bruce Maurey's work: (yes, it's in the bathroom -- my camera flash kind of ruins the dark, gothy, dia de los muertos aspect)

Some very interesting pieces by Tom Bennick where everything was made of paper -- this photo doesn't do it justice. This was very cool stuff -- and you can commission pieces...

At this point, I was too busy chasing my kids, so I didn't grab the artists' cards. My apologies...

And then there was the performance art room. Slightly spooky for the kids: a room full of people, dressed in white and chanting:

Yes, there is mariachi music in the background.  I like this kind of performance/installation art.  Gets you thinking on a different level than everyday life.  The whole world is family?  How come only one of them has their eyes open?  Why wear white?  What do YOU think?

Then, there was Ben, who thought it was super cool to have my kids look at his art.  Isaac posed on the bathtub with Ben:

And another of Ben's pieces: (in addition to the photo at the top)

Some Swedish lady tucked my son into bed.  It was very exciting for him.  He got to take off his shoes.  She explained how it had something to do with Sweden and Honesty.  Honestly, I couldn't follow her reasoning.  (Even though it's written out on the sheet!)  But she was very nice to my kids.

When my kids had had enough of the art, for a mere $2, they got to go fish:



Who knew there were so many interesting artists in Boise?  I did.  Now, you do.