more adventures in boise

First off: I am in Eugene now! It is exciting, surreal, and so much more.

My posts have lagged for a few reasons. One, while in Boise the last few days I mostly busied myself resting and visiting! This was delightful, but I didn't give myself enough time for Sarah-things like jogging and writing. Ah, well! Other kinds of adventures!

I've also been finding myself somewhat frustrated with the raw-ness of the blog. On the one hand, it's fantastic for the sort of adventuring I'm doing, and I love the exercise of it so that I can hone my writing skills a bit more and just for keeping a record of what I'm doing. On my rest days in Denver, though, I did a bit more writing on the side, of writing something cohesive. In a blog, I rarely even proofread, let alone pay attention to structure, layout, format, theme - basically, any sort of doublecheck to see if my point is getting across at all. So I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I have found great joy in writing about my adventures. Onward to Oregon we go!

I had quite a lovely time in Boise. I stayed with a friend I marched a few years of corps with, and it was delightful to catch up and peek a little at what his life in Boise is like, the usual sort of things I enjoy exploring. I think that's one of my favorite things about adventuring like this. I generally have a running list in my head of places that my friends live, and I like to go visit them. Like I said, I really enjoy seeing what other peoples' lives are like, and what it's like to live in a certain place that makes it unique. I especially love visiting people in different contexts, such as seeing drum corps friends in "real life," or visiting friends who have moved to new cities.

In Boise, I also stopped in on my great-aunt and great-uncle. That, too, was a delight! They have lived in Boise for years, and when I was young they had a cabin on scenic, gorgeous land outside Stanley, Idaho. We visited there a few times growing up, and they remain as close to my dad as they can. I hadn't seen them since Earl's 80th birthday in 2003, and I had a blast catching up and sharing half a day with them. They are vibrant and inspiring!

Saturday night was the Oregon game. I was so excited to finally be in a state that bordered Oregon so that I might watch it.....except I was in Boise! Boise State fans are not especially fond of Oregon these days, not the least of whom were the folks I was staying with. So, I donned my trusty Oregon shirt and went down to Buster's Sports Bar, which was just really the closest bar to my friend Jeff's house. I have a long history in recent years of watching Ducks games in "unfriendly" environments, so it was a great adventure. I'm not going to say the Ducks played gloriously, but hey, we won! Go Ducks! Yeah, that's right, go ducks! I then spent a few hours experiencing the Boise downtown Saturday night bar scene, since, hey, I was on an adventure!

On that note, one of the things I miss most about the Northwest when I'm in Ohio is the beer culture. In the Northwest, there is just such a greater appreciation for what goes into good beer, what beer tastes like (and how superior it is on draft!), and the general idea of sitting around with your friends over several pints of tasty beer. So, yes, while in Boise I spent too much money (I'm still operating in Adventure Mode, and Adventure Rules dictate thriftiness in every way) drinking delicious beer on draft with friends, but it had been so long since I had done something like that! I marveled most at how natural it seemed to them, to just sit around on a Saturday night and try different beers on tap. We don't really do that in Ohio.

Well, I am going to end this post here, since it seems to all (generally) be in the theme of my Boise adventures, relatively unspectacular though they may be. I'll save today's journey to the promised land for a separate post.