Boise....the land of taters.

Arriving to Boise last night and driving the 38 miles to Mountain Home, ID I thought about how this whole area is a total waste land of tumble weed and dust. However, that mindset changed today after driving back to Boise and exploring the town. Given the commute from my hotel (on the outskirts of Boise) to Mountain Home was absolutely barren with literally nothing between mountain ranges with the exception of some cows. My mind wandered...what could I possibly do for fun this week while in the land of potatoes and livestock....raid a potato pasture, cow tipping? Nah…My next idea was much more satisfying. I noticed that the copious amount of cows in the valley were not milk cows! This must mean that this area may serve some damn good steak.
After meeting with a work client, they suggested that I go to the restaurant Angell's. However, their suggestion was not steak, but rather elk. Hmmm elk, I've never had elk, although Mrs. Palin raves about it. So, I venture into town and do a mapping of the city to gain my bearings and never find the aforementioned restaurant until taking the town on foot. It was rather elusive, but not as elusive as the elk on the menu. Absolute bummer, no freaking elk! However, my assumption of steak filled menus proves true. They had steak of all kinds; however I ordered my staple, filet mignon. Now, this restaurant is absolutely one of the classiest places to dine in all of Boise and they offer to serve there steak several ways, including 'blue'. BLUE?! Yes, blue, this is a style of steak basically served to the customer straight off the cow. Albeit, I consider myself to be rather the adventurist, I opt for my steak to be medium. Absolutely lovely, no disappointment here; it was served with wild rice which had almonds and dried fruit in it, the other side was hardy steamed vegetables which offset my late night fast food binge the night prior. It was a wonderful first real meal of the trip, and of course to have paired this fantastic meal with an appropriate beverage of the fermented grape variety, a Syrah from Columbia Valley, WA made it above satisfactory. I figured since that my next stop on my journey is in Washington State's wine country; I'd better give it a go. It matched the meal very nicely and did not disappoint even though the wine varieties from the region sometimes have its quality criticized.
Onward….as I stroll through the ghost town of Boise, it is spring break and a Monday, I come across a hotel bar called Chandlers. Looks like a classy joint and somewhere that may have a wine list worthwhile to look consider. As I belly up to the bar for a night cap…I say this because, due to the higher elevation the one glass of Syrah I had with dinner was amazingly starting to hit my rather hard. Shake it off. Shake it off. Ok…wine list. The wine list was actually okay, rather filled with the typical wines that one would find at a decent restaurant, nothing from the Northwest United States worth trying, so I settle on a Malbec from Argentina. Regardless of the surprisingly mediocre wine list the night gets interesting. As I am sitting there minding my own business scanning the crowd and wondering why girls 20 years younger than their dinner partner are scattered around the restaurant…although I may be criticized for thinking this way, but these old men (we’re talking late 70s) must have deep pockets and prescribed extra strong Viagra to hold on to these women. Regardless…well done lads, decent pulls for being born in the prohibition era, my hat goes off to you. (Disgusting visual) Three sips in to my Malbec a couple sits down next to me. This couple was a lot closer in age. The guy looked like a typical hipster, just like the other ones I was seeing around the town of Boise, but I do what any other curious individual would do…I eavesdrop. After listening in for quite some time, I realize that this hipster was no local. It was actually the Owatonna, MN native and lead singer of the band Owl City, Adam Young. Disappointed that him and his missus were very quiet and really kept to themselves, I leave Chandlers soon after they do and return to my hotel room and after a quick Google search, it appears that Owl City is performing tomorrow, Tuesday 30 March, at the Knitting Factory. It appears that I may have something fun and interesting to do tomorrow. Should be a good show, if I can score some tix! Idaho, so far, so good. For now, it is time to lay my head down and get some shut-eye...let’s see what the rest of the trip has in store.