Day 10 – Hot Day on the Payette

Thunder Mountain Railroad

We drove to Horseshoe Bend, ID, to take a ride on the Thunder Mountain Railroad along the Payette River, just outside of Boise. It was an extremely hot day (100 degrees according to the car) and while the train made its run up the Payette, we could see large numbers of people either riding the whitewater down the river (see photo) or just bathing on the banks of the river. It was Sunday and people were taking full advantage of their day off. Looked like a lot of fun. If we had one more day here we would have liked to have tried it too!

End of the line in Banks

The ride along the river framed with mountains immediately in the background was very scenic. To keep thing more interesting, there was a troupe of actors going from car to car putting on a Wild West play. It was admittedly a little hokey, but it was also fun and helped pass the time in between our conductor regaling us with stories of the old West life in Boise.

Boise State end zone

When the 3-hour roundtrip ride was complete, we checked into the hotel which was cheap and very nice. They even bumped us up to a suite. We had dinner at a Cuban place which was great. Vaca frita (fried cow) for Jeanne and Ropa Vieja (old clothes) for me. Both were excellent. It seems strange to have a good Cuban restaurant in Boise but it was run by one family and our waitress said there is a small Cuban community here. After dinner we drove through the Boise State campus and yes, their football field is really blue (see photo). And also yes, Boise is another state capitol and so we made our now almost obligatory run by the capitol for a photo. All in all, we really liked Boise.