Goodbye Boise, we'll miss you

Thursday Night Mountain Biking
For 7 years we’ve been mountain biking on Thursday nights with a fun group of friends, usually followed by pizza and beer.  Thursday night will never be the same again…

HP Lunch Volleyball
Summer at HP means volleyball! During lunch I ducked out of work to play sand and grass volleyball.  Any volleyball skills I may have, I owe to these guys.  They’re awesome players and friends, and I will never forget them.

Friends and Coworkers
Ben and I have gotten to know a lot of really great people here in Boise.  The hardest part of saying goodbye is knowing that we’re losing the potential of spending more time with them.  To all of our friends and coworkers – we will miss you!

Alonna’s Soccer Team
I’ve had a blast playing on a women’s soccer team in Boise.  Anything we lack in skills we’ve more than made up for by running our butts off and never giving up. Go Bombers!

Ridges to Rivers trail system
They just keep getting better – the hiking and biking trails in the Boise foothills are awesome.  I don’t think we’ll have any trouble finding great mountain biking in Colorado, but having nice trails within biking distance of our house is a huge benefit of living here.

Beautiful Stanley

Stanley, Idaho
Idaho has it’s share of gorgeous scenery, and our favorite by far is the Sawtooth Mountains.  Stanley is a small quiet town with beautiful views and home of the famous Fisher-Williams epic bike trail.

Boise Greenbelt
Our house is within walking distance of a 25-mile long paved path along the Boise River, called the greenbelt.  It’s perfect for jogging, walking, or biking through town.

Society of Women Engineers – Southwest Idaho Section
I’ve been lucky to work with a group of women engineers dedicated to encouraging girls to pursue math and science careers.  I’ve learned a lot by being a part of this group and made some great friends along the way.  Keep it up ladies!

Living 5 Minutes from the Airport
I don’t think this concept exists in Colorado.

Clear skies and long summer days
Boise weather is perfect – it’s almost always sunny and clear, with dry desert heat.  Also, being situated on the edge of Mountain Time Zone, Boise gets sunlight well past 9pm in the summer.

Off to our Next Adventure

Volcano Tour – By Horse

I’m no fan of horses. I guess it’s because I had a bad experience as a kid, but still I just don’t see the point. I’d rather walk than put my life in the hands of a strong-minded animal. So naturally I was disappointed when I learned that the only way to see the huge active volcano on Isabela Island was on horseback. But I really wanted to see the volcano, so I convinced myself that I could do it.

Long story short, we both survived and it was worth it. The horses were very tame and we didn’t have any problems, although I was completely terrified the entire time.
 

The volcano is called Sierra Negra, and it’s a huge crater that is constantly letting off steam. It’s actually the largest active volcano crater in the world (one crater in Africa is larger, but inactive).
 

After seeing Sierra Negra, we hiked to another active volcano called Volcano Chico. This one doesn’t look like a volcano at all, it’s more of a general area of volcanic activity. We walked around in lava fields with cool-looking cactus, and enjoyed great views of the rest of Isabela Island.
 

An Evening in Isabela

Our first night on Isabela, Kristina, who worked at our hotel, took us around town. We ended up at a cool bar with a wall full of iguanas. Lucky us we also happened to be there right in time for a few games of volleyball!
 

Isabela Bay Tour

We took a tour of the bay near Puerto Villamil, which is gorgeous with clear blue water, black lava rock, and green mangroves.  We saw a billion iguanas, a few penguins, one blue-footed boobie, and then went snorkeling with sea turtles and a big sting ray. After a hike around one of the islands, we returned to find a sea lion hanging out in our boat. I think this happens a lot, because the boat owners seem to be a bit disgusted with the sea lions. But I got a kick out of it.
 

Tortuga Bay

One day in Puerto Ayora we walked to Tortuga Bay, which is a large beach 40 minutes outside of town. It was fairly uneventful, except for some amusing iguanas on the beach. If you got too close to them, they’d start to run which looks pretty funny with their short legs.
 

These cactus trees are all over the Galapagos. The cactus evolved to grow into tall trees so that the giant tortoises and iguana wouldn’t eat them.  I’m not sure the photo captures it accurately, but they look really cool.
 

(I’m in the front row, middle-left, light blue shirt)