Day 12 and 13 Boise, Idaho

The 400 mile drive from Provo to Boise had yet again a different topography. This time it was mostly prairie land, treeless and semi-flat. We made excellent time since: it was New Year's day, the speed limit was 80, there were very few police, and you could see a long way ahead. We checked in around 3 o'clock and looked for a placee to eat. There wasn't much open except for Double Tap, a little bar two blocks away from the hotel. We had a late lunch and watched  a bowl game with some locals. I had a very good Elk cheeseburger and Sylvia a quesadilla. After an hour or two we walked around a bit to get the feel of the town and didn't do very much else.

I got up early this morning and, as usual went looking for breakfast while Sylvia slept. I'm was tired of the same old hotel breakfast so I walked around town until I found Addie's, a little place owned by a very nice lady who let me in before she was actually ready to open. I drank coffee and read the paper until she had time to make me chicken fried chicken with gravy and poached eggs. That, hit the spot. When we finally got out and about we noticed that Boise had a large Basque population that migrated here in 1890's to 1920's. A few years ago we spent a few days in the Basque region of Spain and we really liked the food and the people. We decided to checkout the Basque Museum just up the street. Turns out they were great sheepherders and were responsible for the massive sheep population in Idaho...who knew? Now all we had to do was find some Basque restaurants. So we went across the street from the museum and went into what we thought was the Basque Market to have lunch. As it turned out it was the Bardenay Restaurant and Distillery, but they had a Basque chorizo and white bean soup so we ate there instead. Tomorrow we will find a good Basque restaurant. We might as well enjoy it here because Solomons falls a bit short when it comes to Basque dining options.

After spending the afternoon walking the town checking out dinner options, we realized we had too many dinner choices. One place I very much wanted to eat was a small German bar called Prost. We went in to check the menu and it was very limited and very German, even the beers were nothing but German. Pretty cool, but we not quite what we wanted. I did have a Bitburger while we "discussed" where we wanted to eat. Unable to decide we just went across the street to Fork. Wow, what a good guess. Turns out it was probably the best choice we could have made. We were early and fortunately got a good seat because it got packed later. The bartender said the turnout was pretty normal for a Tuesday. Sylvia ordered a Artichoke Heart & Ricotta Ravioli which she loved, and I had the Tuesday special, Cast Iron Buttermilk Fried Chicken & Cheddar Waffle with Balsamic infused maple syrup & local Ahaus honey-orange infused butter. It could not have been better. I love fried chicken and I've not had anything better, that's for sure. We're staying another day.

Fried Chicken & Waffles

Big news this morning, somebody climbed the town Christmas tree and stole the topper ornament.

Missing Topper