"I'm goin' to Boise!!"

My long weekend in Boise highlights: shopping, "Twelfth Night", Payette Scenic Byway, Cascade Reservoir, Cheesecake Factory, "My Life In Ruins", "Post Grad" and a toffee crunch apple at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

For our Boise trip we got this GREAT hotel near the freeway on Priceline.com for only $38. I love deals! We had a very pretty suite. When you walk in, there’s a sitting room with a couch and flat screen TV and then you pass through into the bedroom with the comfy-est beds! First thing Friday after checking into our hotel we went shopping. Friday was a pleasant but pricey day :)

Later we attended the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. I know. I know. "Idaho" and "Shakespeare" together is just begging to be mocked, but they've been going for over 35 years and I thought they did a great job of "Twelfth Night." I especially enjoyed the leading lady who played Olivia. At the play we took the first of our many self portraits. It turned into a joke for us since we had to take so MANY of them to get both of our faces at the SAME time :)

Saturday we took a little road trip on the Payette River Scenic Byway that passes through Horseshoe Bend (population 700), Banks (population 10-ish... it's just where you put in for rafting trips... get it? Banks.), Cascade Reservoir and McCall (population 2,000). It was quite a pretty drive with the Payette River and reservoirs and lakes and mountains and meadows and the evergreens. I wish you could see how narrow the road was and how tall the pine trees stood. It was awesome!

We stopped at Cascade Reservoir for a picnic lunch and really loved the sandy beaches and the boats on the water were beautiful.

McCall must have some crazy property tax because the lake and grounds and boardwalk are gorgeous! SUCH a pretty town! We took A LOT of self-portraits trying to get a rockin’ picture for our rockin’ Christmas card. I guess you’ll just have to wait and see which trip we use a picture from, but this trip sure had a lot of goofy pictures to pick from :).

It's our tradition to find a Cheesecake Factory on our vacations. We like to split an entree so we can get our own slice of cheesecake :). Chris is trying out the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle with layers of Chocolate Cake, Chocolate-Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake, Chocolate Mousse and Chocolate Ganache. Yummmmm! Chocolate-y! And I tried Stefanie's Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake with layers of Red Velvet Cake and Cheesecake covered with special Cheesecake Factory cream cheese frosting. Soooooo Tasty! After our long drive through the country side we stopped in at the Cheesecake Factory and ordered "My Life in Ruins" at our hotel. This weekend we also got to see "Post Grad" at Edwards Cinema 21.

Our vacation felt more like a week than three days because we managed to squeeze in so much. You know that feeling when you think, "Oh my goodness, I can't believe this morning I was at work!!" after you just drove to the city, went shopping and watched a play in an outdoor theater. It was an awesome way to end the summer :).