Day 3 – Burns, OR – Boise, ID

Happy 4^th of July (belated)!  The big event today was our first time zone change.  We ended the day in Idaho – our 3^rd state on the trip so far.  Other than that the drive itself was fairly uneventful.

Boise here we come!

Before leaving Oregon (town of Nyssa), we passed a barn with the following sign. “Onion County USA.”  We did a double take and drove back to make sure we saw the sign correctly.  Who knew?

We’ve seen tons of animals so far. Mostly cows and sheep.  We have seen some llamas and goats.  We’ve also seen a lot of farms with these…

There are two north-south mountain ranges in Oregon.  Once you get past the central Oregonian range, the landscape turns decidedly desert scrub. No trees, lots of bushes and other dry weather vegetation.  We also began to see some unusual rock formations.

Welcome to Idaho!

Hello!  Welcome to Idaho indeed!  Never seen a speed limit sign listed at 80 mph!  Sadly it only lasted a few miles.

Our constant companion in Idaho was the Pole Creek.

We arrived at our hotel around noon after a quick lunch in Boise.

After dropping of our stuff, we headed for the excellent Barbarian Brewing.  They make all of their own beers and we very much enjoyed their efforts.  We think they have something for everyone but they really love their sour beers.

While enjoying our beers in the cool comfort of the A/C, we played games of Connect4(E won 2-1) and Jenga (a draw).  We shared a table with a very young group from Reno, who were enjoying their adult coloring books.

While enjoying our beers, we had to take photos of…

At this point, Sigrid demanded we go visit her countrymen at the Mad Swede Brewing Company.  Alas they were off for the 4^th?!?  Mad indeed

We switched gears (ahem) and headed for the Meriwether Ciderhouse. We sampled two tasters – an all Meriwether flight and the top choices of the employees. We enjoyed 9 of the 10…only one sad top choice didn’t pass muster.

After a quick nap and delicious dinner, we headed for the Ann Morrison park.  We were told it was the place to go to watch fireworks.  It’s a big park, so we were a bit concerned that we wouldn’t be able to find the proper field to watch the show.  While crossing a main street, we saw one of the best sunsets we’ve seen (maybe since the Darwin, Australia when grass fires made a perfect sunset).  The first of Northern California and Southern Oregon.  Probably had the same effect.

As we entered the park, we were joined by hundreds of people carrying chairs and coolers. No chance of getting lost.  The official show weren’t the only fireworks as attendees brought their own sparklers – some small and some spectacular.

Last item to mention in Boise – there are old timey tractors positioned around town.  Most have no security measures aside from velvet ropes.  One set up did have the tractor behind a glass box – which made it difficult to photograph.  Very cool.

End of day odometer – 1,603 (189 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 956 miles