I have never appreciated Idaho more than I did this past month. My trip was only supposed to be two and a half weeks long but after Andy started sending me emails telling me how hot and humid it was in Shanghai, I decided to extend the trip through the 4th and stay a whole month. I did not regret the decision at all as it was really SO beautiful in Idaho and it gave me some time to actually see a lot of the friends and family who I miss while in China.
I don’t even really know where to start about the trip. I have so many memories of which you can view photos of on the new Idaho page. I will try and divide this up into the major points of the trip.
HOME I stayed at my parents lovely home in West Boise and incredibly appreciated their hospitality. I am not the easiest guest as I was very busy almost the entire month and am constantly coming and going. My mom whipped out a couple of quilts while I was there (she is amazing) and I even got to give my input as to the border colors. She didn’t listen to it, but at least I could help her figure out what she really wanted. I only drove by my “real home” once. We have some new renters in the house and it seems to be going well. The first renters flaked out after seven or so months, but at least they left the place in good condition.
BABIES Wow! It seems like there are babies everywhere in Boise! My friend Sage and her husband Chance had a beautiful little girl named Maite who I was fortunate to spend two Sundays with while I was in town. She really grew a lot even between the first and second times that I saw her. I think she even seemed to have a lot more personality the second time as well. It is amazing how fast they grow and develop! The first time I saw them, I went out to the house they are renting in Ontario while they build in Nissa. The second time, they visited my parents home and we enjoyed a very lovely afternoon with lunch, cobbler and of course lots of baby time. I am not quite sure how thrilled Sage was that my dad was teaching her how to box and use knifes (he was just joking around), but I am sure she is too young to remember.
My friend Jen also had a baby a little bit younger than Sage’s named Max. He is a little doll and it was great to spend time catching up with her and visiting her new, beautiful home. Lindsay and Paul’s kids Tucker and Owen have grown SO much and Owen is now more like a little boy than a baby and he really looks up to his big brother Tucker. Michelle and Brian’s kids have also grown a lot as they are the same ages as Tucker and Owen.
FRUIT It may seem like a minor point, but the fruit was so incredible while I was in Boise. My parents would go to Costco and buy fresh cherries, peaches, raspberries, blueberries, etc. I literally savored every bite.
RUNNING & BIKING I reveled in the many runs I got to do in the foothills with my running friends. It was so beautiful up there! One day I ran a little later than everyone else and went up on Sidewinder by myself and there was literally nobody up there, the hills were freshly yellowed (they were actually green when I first arrived in Boise) but awesome. I stopped to think back to China and wondered if there were places in China that were like this. China has such a diverse climate that I imagine so, but I couldn’t help but think that there would probably be 100 other people enjoying the trails with me if I were in China.
I believe I got out on my road bike three times while I was in Boise. Twice up Bogus Basin Road about half way to the top and another time out to Star with Ray and Erin (see picture above). It was SO nice to be on my bike again, I had not realized how much I had missed it. Before I had picked my bikes up from where they are stored, I went to a couple of spin classes, including one on the roof of the Y at 5:15am. It was very cool to see the sun come up over the Boise foothills while spinning.
BUSINESS CLASS I was VERY fortunate to fly business class this trip. It was my first time and I have to say, it was so great! It is really a completely different experience than Economy or even Economy Plus. Flying back from Shanghai, I travelled with Will Turtle, a business class veteran. He showed me all of the perks including the lounge, boarding first, leaving the plane first, using the freshen up service in SFO where you actually can take a shower and eat breakfast (what a treat!) Of course, the chairs where you can recline, the filet mignon, wine, port, cheese and nice stewardesses were a nice touch as well. Yesterday on my flight back from SFO, I was able to sleep probably six hours, which would have been unheard of (for me) in Economy.
RESTAURANTS Boise really has some fabulous restaurants and since I met so many friends while I was in town, I was able to visit many of my favorites including a new one in Hyde Park called Bungalow, Kessler’s, Flat Bread Pizza, Tony’s Pizza, Satchel’s, Fujiyama, Bar Denay, Blue Moose, Rembrants, Catch of the Day, 8th Street Wine Company, Roque’s, the taco place on Chinden (I forget the name), Gallo Giro, Flying M, the Red Door, Big City Coffee shop, etc. Some of the best eating though was, of course, at home and camping. I am convinced that nothing tastes better than when you are in the wilderness.
FRIENDS What can I say, I have so many awesome friends who I miss SO much while I am in China. I tried my darndest to see as many of you that I could. The visiting, the running, the coffee, the lunches, the dinners, time at the pool, the outdoor movie at Satchels, it was all so great! I really enjoyed every minute of our time together and am already back to missing you.
FAMILY With the help of two weddings in Andy’s family, I was able to see his extended family quite a bit, which was really fun. I also got to have a couple of meals with Andy’s parents, his sisters, which I really enjoyed. Ray and Eileen took me to Tony’s pizzeria which has incredible pizza, the BEST tiramisu in Boise and awesome Illy coffee as well. It was really fun to be able to talk with them. My only regret with all of the events was that I wish Andy could have been there to experience them as well.
My grandpa had a mini-stroke a couple of weeks ago. He has been recovering and when I visited him on Wednesday before I left, he looked a lot better. Because of the stroke, a lot of my dad’s brothers and sisters were in town and I was able to briefly see many of them. Also, my grandma turned 89 and my aunts and uncles threw a mini-party for her. I always want to spend more time with everyone, especially my grandparents, which made a month a nice amount of time so I could see them multiple times while I was home.
My parents and I spent some evenings together including a great night at the Idaho Shakespeare Theatre seeing “Arsenic and Old Lace”, water-skiing, seeing a fantastic movie at the Flicks called Once which I would highly recommend if you like music, the outdoor movie “Singin in the Rain” at Satchels and a few other things.
Last but not least, I spent a lot of time with my sister, Anna, who I so thoroughly enjoy spending time with. She is amazing and I was glad that we got to do a lot of fun things together even with her busy schedule of being the project manager on both Rocky Mountain High and the South Junior High “remodel.”
BOISE I am convinced that Boise is really one of the greatest places on earth to live. I could really go on and on about this. It helps that I have gotten away from it and come back because I really appreciate all that it has to offer. The open spaces, the clean air, the relatively few people, the lack of traffic (although I am sure all of the Boiseans would disagree), the weather, four seasons, etc.
SHOPPING I spent a lot of time in shopping while I was in Boise. Some of the things I bought were fun things such as new clothes and shoes, but a lot of it was buying things that I could not get in Shanghai easily such as tampons, my favorite brand of toothpaste, deodorant, sunscreen, wicking clothes (for the humidity), etc.
THUNDERDOME My coworkers in Boise set up a new working area that took four cubes and turned them into one big cube. I sat in the middle of it while I was working in Boise. Being back for a month allowed me to get caught up with all of the things I miss while working remotely. It was fun. I also took the time to try and network with individuals in other areas as I feel that I am ready to move into a different role, especially now that my MBA is nearly complete. I would love to be working in a project or program management role or even marketing. Basically anything that would expose me to more of the business side of things and allow me to utilize my new knowledge as well as my skills with coordination. While I think it will be hard to make such a transition while I am in Shanghai, I am still exploring such opportunities within HP.
CAMPING / WATER-SKIING One huge benefit to living in Idaho is the access to nature. I took advantage of this access first by using the foothills to run but also by water-skiing up at Lucky Peak with my family. Once I decided to extend my trip, Anna talked me into going camping with her friends and my parents over the fourth. Anna and Derik, her boyfriend along with their friends Sara and Kelly drove up on Tuesday night. My parents and I met them the following morning . Anna had reserved part of a campground which I think is supposed to be for family reunions and such but it was the only thing she was able to reserve online. We had something like eight campsites which turned out to be nice because we did not have “neighbors” next to us and the dogs could wander a bit. My parents let Sassy and I sleep in “super tent” which has three rooms in it. We all took turns with meals and then spent the days at the reservoir water skiing and wake boarding. We had a great time and it was nice to get out in the wilderness a bit. A couple of memories from the trip include a fourth of July parade through the campground which included mostly patriotically decorated 4-wheelers, learning to play Asshole (a drinking game I managed to avoid in college), everyones “accents” while playing Asshole, the dogs fetching in the water until they could barely walk, the alleged cougar hearing which apparently sounds like a woman screaming, playing frisbee, playing pepper (volleyball) with Sara, reading my “Tour de France” magazine, and of course all of the great food and conversations that always go along with camping.
LE TOUR & PLANET EARTH I bought my dad the “Planet Earth” DVDs for Father’s Day and they are incredible. We watched a few of the episodes on his high definition TV and the pictures really blow your mind away. Our earth is so beautiful and the DVD is really successful at capturing it.
My favorite sporting event of the year, The Tour de France started while I was in town. I love watching the finish of the stages before work and Andy and I are currently trying to figure out how we can catch at least the mountain stages here in Shanghai.
SCHOOL Very simply, I am finished with everything required for my MBA except one 15-20 page paper. I worked on it on the plane yesterday and need to spend some more time on it today. So August will not only be celebrating my 30th birthday, but the completing of my MBA.
PERROS It was so fun to see Sassy (our black lab). We played lots of fetch and my parents backyard is awesome for her and her brother Bo (my parents dog) as they can fetch in the water as well. We also went running and spent lots of time together (I won’t go into her trying to steal my foam pad that I was sleeping on while camping.) She is such a cool dog and we really miss her. I was not able to visit Gus, our other dog, but hope to the next time I am in Boise.
All in all, as you have surely deduced, it was a great trip. I was even willing to extend it to be a bit longer but when I mentioned it to Andy, I didn’t get a response, so I figured it was time to go home to Shanghai. (isn’t it confusing how I throw the word home around.) During the last week of my trip in Boise, I did start to miss things about Shanghai, most notably Andy but also the fact that our life is definitely not as jam-packed as a trip back to Boise. Many nights in Boise I would only get between four and five hours of sleep as I would be out doing things in the evening keeping me up until at least 11pm, and then I would turn around and get up at 4:30 to meet friends for running or biking at 5:15am. Yesterday, I had no problem sleeping on the plane and I even slept in this morning until 6:15 which is a record for the first night of jet lag.
Today, Andy and Patrik are getting their boat delivered so I am very much enjoying relaxing while I get unpacked, caught up on the blog, etc. I am sure that Andy will have a story to tell about the boat delivery as it seems to be quite complicated. Many of the classic inefficiencies of China have already surfaced and I can only imagine what they are dealing with today.
One quick note before I go. A special thanks to people like Margy, Stacey, Lindsay, Mom, Nolan and Ainoa who have been supportive, active readers of the blog who have let me know you are reading. I never really know if what I am writing is interesting so it is always nice to hear positive feedback! Thank you and Cheers!
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