Posts Tagged ‘boise’

We’re home! Ben and I have been back in Boise for almost a week now, and we’re happy to be home. Of course, there are some mixed feelings ending a trip like this. On the road, every day brings something new and exciting, whereas back home we have quickly fallen into a daily routine in a familiar setting. Looking back at the incredible things we’ve seen and done this past year, it’s a little sad to see it come to an end – especially when I know there’s a lot more out in the world that I’d like to see! But, on top of the fact that we’ve depleted most of our savings and have no choice but to return to work, it feels great to be home.
 

Re-Discovering our House

Something I never anticipated was how nice it would be to return to our house and belongings after living out of a backpack and in hostels for 5 months. In some ways it’s liberating to have only a few sets of clothes and just the essentials with you at all times. While backpacking, you can’t help but wonder why you need that house full of “stuff” anyway – you’re doing fine with just these 30lbs. But, you forget about all the little things that make life so much easier and more comfortable. No – I didn’t miss the lawnmower or vacuum cleaner – but I was surprised to remember that I love wearing high heels and jewelry, and I now have the choice between at least 5 pairs of jeans and hundreds of tops. In addition to clothing, we have a kitchen full of nice dishes and appliances. We cooked a lot while traveling to save money, but the kitchens in hostels are nothing like your own kitchen back home. Dull knives, missing utensils, tiny fridges packed full of people’s food, and no cupboard with of your favorite spices and cooking supplies. Like I said, it’s really nice to be home.
 

What’s Next?

Now that we’re back, you might be curious about our plans for the future. We are too! We don’t have any solid plans yet, but I promise I’ll let you know when we do.

As for the blog – it will live on! We still have a lot to say about our past year of traveling, and we’ll continue to share photos of any interesting adventures that come our way. Some topics in the works include the cost of our trip, things we’ve learned, and more photo collages. Is there anything you’d like to know about? Please leave a comment and we’ll try to address it.

Thank you for following us on this incredible journey!

Just a quick note to say that we made it home to Boise, about 22 hours after leaving our apartment in Rome. All of the flights went well, but we’re exhausted. It feels nice to be at home, and to be in the US where everything just seems normal and comfortable. And I was amazed when I got home to look through my drawers and closet to see how much clothing I own. And to think I used to complain about having nothing to wear!

We’ll probably keep updating the website now and then, with some general observations from Europe, maybe some details on what we packed and how our budget turned out, and of course, stay tuned as we plan the next stage of our adventure.

Last Summer Ben and I went biking at Bogus Basin Ski Resort outside of Boise.  Ben had the sweet idea of taking photos of the exact same locations in summer and winter.  We forgot to look at the summer photos before heading up to Bogus yesterday – but we took a bunch of pictures anyway and some of them matched up pretty well.  So, here you have examples of Bogus Basin in the summer vs. winter!

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Tonight there was a huge fire in Southeast Boise in a neighborhood near our house.  We first noticed something when we heard a lot of sirens outside.  The wind was really strong and we had headed out on our bikes to try out Ben’s new kite.  But we saw smoke in the distance and decided to head that direction to investigate.  There was a huge fire spread out across a large open field off of Amity Road and houses burning on the ridge above.  It’s so dry here, and with the strong winds the fire spread like crazy.  We got there pretty early so we saw it spread and multiple houses catch on fire.  It sounds like about 10 houses burnt down and a bunch more damaged.  Luckily it doesn’t sound like anyone was hurt.  Anyway, our video and photos probably tell the story better than I can… (more…)