Michael Powell's Blog, page 121
January 10, 2013
The Boise Fry Company
The Boise Fry Company is the best potato joint in the capital of America’s potato state. How could it be anything other than amazing?! We visited on our final day in the state, eager to fill our bellies with greasy goodness, and were not disappointed.
Boise is blessed with a lot of excellent restaurants. During our two weeks in the city, we enjoyed great meals at Chandler’s Steakhouse, Bar Gernika, Cobby’s, The Fork, Goldy’s, Bardenay, Mai Thai, Cazba and the Red Feather, a...
Boise’s Basque Block
Basque Shepherds and Arborglyphs
One of the most idiosyncratic aspects of Idaho, and Boise in particular, is its connection to the Basque Country. Because of geographic and climatic similarities to their homeland, thousands of emigrating Basques chose Idaho as their new home. Their influence remains strong throughout the state, but nowhere is it more celebrated celebrated than in Boise’s Basque Block.
A wonderfully-realized mural on Capital Boulevard welcomes visitors into the block. For the un...
January 9, 2013
The Boise Art Museum
Founded in 1937, the Boise Art Museum has a premium riverside location in an Art Deco building just off Capitol Boulevard. We took a quick tour of the current exhibitions, and had the chance to meet an artist at work on her latest installation.
The Boise Art Museum consists of fifteen rooms, most of which host temporary exhibits, and a sculpture garden. The permanent collection focuses on art of the Pacific Northwest, ceramics, American Realism, and a surprisingly heavy em...
January 8, 2013
The Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa
Dedicated to America’s military past, the mammoth Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa is a privately-funded collection of wartime memorabilia, stories and airplanes. It’s the kind of place you could easily spend hours at and never even come close to seeing everything.
A few people had enthusiastically recommended we visit the Warhawk Air Museum. But since I’ve never been too interested in military history and, as a German, Jürgen is naturally disinclined to the glorification of America’...
January 7, 2013
The World Center for Birds of Prey
On a hilltop just outside Boise, the World Center for Birds of Prey introduces visitors to some of the planet’s wickedest raptors. Established in 1984 by the Peregrine Fund, the center not only contains a wealth of information about hawks, owls, falcons and more, but also breeds them in captivity.
The first thing you’ll see when pulling up to the center is Condor Cliffs, home to two magnificent California Condors. The largest birds in North America, the condors were almost d...
The Trey McIntyre Project
Yep, it’s just like I thought. Idaho: nothing but potatoes and world-renowned modern dance. Pfft. It’s so tiring when a place conforms exactly to the preconceived stereotypes you have about it. I mean, come on, Trey McIntyre — Boise? How conventional.
Alright, so Boise was a totally unexpected city in which to base a modern dance troupe, but five years later, it’s clear that Trey McIntyre chose wisely. After concluding a dancing career which won him plaudits around the w...
The Capital City Public Market
On Saturdays, traffic in downtown Boise comes to a standstill for the Capital City Public Market, which brings vendors together to sell organic veggies, clothing and artwork. It’s a popular weekly event which we got to experience shortly before the onset of winter.
The market has been a Boise tradition since 1994, and runs throughout the year. During the summer, up to 150 vendors put up stands, spreading out over six city blocks. On the chilly mid-November Saturday we vis...
January 6, 2013
Freak Alley and Boise’s Public Art
Check Out The Street Art In Buenos Aires
When you think of “Boise”, the first thing that comes to mind probably isn’t a thriving public art scene. But perhaps it should be. On almost every corner of the city, hidden in alleys, plastered across electrical boxes and even engraved in sidewalks, fascinating artwork can be found. There are bold, unmissable sculptures and paintings, but also subtle pieces which you might not even notice unless looking for them.
We took a tour of Boise’s public art, w...
Old Boise Penitentiary
A fascinating window into the not-so-distant and none-too-glorious past of America’s prison system, the Old Boise Penitentiary is probably the city’s most popular historical site. Up until a riot forced its closure in 1973, the Old Pen is where Idaho’s worst criminals came to serve their time, get shanked and wait for the gallows.
The prison opened in 1872 when Idaho was still a territory, and was in use for almost exactly 100 years. A stay here was no cakewalk. The Pen is as cold,...
January 5, 2013
The Capitol Building and Boise Train Depot
Read About The Union Pacific Railroad
At either end of Capitol Boulevard sit Boise’s two most distinctive buildings. To the north is the stunning State Capitol, while on a bluff to the south, easily visible from the capitol’s steps, is the Old Train Depot.
Of the two, the Capitol is the older building, completed in 1912 (22 years after Idaho gained statehood). It was built in the Renaissance Revival style, using sandstone from local quarries, and has a dome which reaches 208 feet into the air....
