March 24, 2008...8:22 pm
What on earth is there to do in Boise??
One of the great things about WordPress blogs is that the program, among other things, let’s to you see various search terms people input that ultimately lead them to your blog. I like to look at these occasionally (okay, so maybe a little more than “occasionally”….maybe occasionally throughout the day) because to me this entire process of blogging and “new media” is interesting. Plus the often inspire new topics - like this one.
One that amuses me frequently is “What’s there to do in Boise?”
Growing up here in the 70s and 80s, I think the question was TRULY VALID!!! For Pete’s sake, when we moved here mid-70s, to hear my mother tell it, she (a city girl) was horrified to see the women of Boise were still wearing beehive hair-dos and, heaven forbid, driving around in pick up trucks (with the children presumably bouncing around securely in the back of the truck…I should know…)
Validity of this question in the new millennium? Not so much, unless you are from the likes of NYC or LA. All you have to do is peruse this blog a bit and you will find all kinds of things to do. However, if you are still not convinced, let’s take at trip down memory lane for a moment so I can make my point…Here are some of the top things my friends and I would do in Boise some 20-25 years ago that were “good clean fun…” Parties, aside, right? 
Hmmm….
1. Go to the museum or Julia Davis Park (the biggest festival we had prior to 1990 was “Art in the Park” which still goes on today…no River Festival…no Art and Roses…no, no, no… it was a boring place!!!)
2. Go to the Soda Jerk and get a milk shake (used to be on Broadway, closed many years ago). It was a place that was supposed to be like a 50s-style hang-out for kids, replete with newspapers hung all over the walls and a juke box (do they make those anymore?). It was really a fun place - or at least I thought so, it’s still in my memory today.
3. Go Cruisin’ downtown. I think this is still popular w/the kids based on the last time I was downtown on a Friday or Saturday night…but it had to be WAY more fun in the 80s! LOL! This was about the only place in Boise at that time to go and “see and be seen.”
4. Go dancing at Xenon’s. Okay, so I guess there was another place to be seen and this was it. This was the original “Bogie’s” if your young enough not to remember Xenon’s but old enough to remember Bogies. Xenon’s was an under-drinking age club (alcohol free). WE LOVED IT! Often there were so many teens waiting to get in, you were in line for a long time waiting for others to come out so you could get in.
5. Oh, here was a favorite…go hang out at the Boise Train Depot and take pictures of each-other posing… Future models? NOT! Dreamers? FOR SURE!
6. Swimming and playing on the trampoline were givens on any given summer day.
7. Movies - preferably midnight movies, and scary!
8. Go to JB’s…this was after the Soda Jerk closed.
9. Roller-skating at SkateWorld. Skate World used to be on the corner of Barrister and Cole Road. There’s now a used office furniture place there.
10. Skiing (of course!) in the winter
11. BONUS: Audition for plays…
12. EXTRA BONUS: Play Blackjack - with M&Ms
Hmmm… Sheltered life? Perhaps that was true in the ol’ 1900s. LOL! I can see why my parents came to think it was such a great place to raise a family. Now you see why I couldn’t wait to get out of Boise…and then, why I couldn’t wait to come back.
The best part of Boise 20-25 years ago was opportunity. Because this town was so small back then, but big enough, you could do things that hundreds or thousands of kids in other towns were all competing for. But that’s a blog for another day.
Les Bois = La Vie En Rose
-GG
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