Our Impressions of Boise and Meridian

Geographically Boise and Meridian are in the southwestern corner of Idaho.

To say that the cities of Boise and Meridian are under construction is a gross under exaggeration! There are road construction projects going on EVERYWHERE. GPS and Google had a hard time rerouting us, and sometimes we gave up on trying to get to an attraction altogether. We are sure it will be a great infrastructure boost to Boise, but it was sure frustrating for people just visiting! Locals said it is the most projects they have seen at one time!

Onto the best part of Boise, the Boise River, a 102-mile-long tributary of the Snake River. When we were there people were swimming in the river, fishing off banks and bridges and/or just lounging/picnicking near the river. It was a beautiful, clear, clean river.

As with many large cities there were a number of public parks available in both Boise and Meridian. The parks seemed to be well taken care of, with bright green manicured grass.

Attractions

The Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial is an outdoor exhibit. Sadly, we did not see it. We tried. Three times. We had to take two detours around construction to be within even eyesight of the exhibit. Due to construction, there was no on-street parking, and spaces at the public library were full.

The World Center for Birds of Prey was absolutely fascinating! There were many outdoor exhibits, as well as an air-conditioned museum. We went to one of their live bird sessions in the classroom and saw an American Kestrel up close and personal. Their mission is to conserve birds of prey worldwide.

The World Center for Birds of Prey is the headquarters for The Peregrine Fund, an international non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves endangered raptors around the world. Built in 1984, the World Center for Birds of Prey is located on 580 acres on a hilltop overlooking Boise. The Peregrine Fund is known for its worldwide conservation and recovery efforts of rare and endangered raptors. The organization’s first recovery effort focused on the peregrine falcon, which was facing extinction due to the widespread use of the chemical DDT. Due to the efforts of the Peregrine Fund, in 1999 in Boise, the peregrine falcon was removed from the US endangered species list!

Downtown Boise

On several occasions (different days of the week, different times of day) we drove through downtown with the hopes of being able to check out the shops and restaurants. With the massive construction projects, detours and parking meters we never saw anything in downtown Boise. We are sure it will be nice once the construction is done, but we guess there will still be parking meters.

Food and Drink

The Matador Meridian is a restaurant in a shopping mall. The food and the service were good. The portions were large. The atmosphere didn’t make you feel like you were in a mall!

The Stil (Sweetest Things in Life) is an ice cream shop that sells alcohol-infused ice cream! Of course, there were non-alcoholic choices as well! There were also vegan and vegetarian options, a true “something for everyone ice cream parlor”! The ice cream we had was incredibly creamy and flavorful.

Home Base: The Campground

For us, a campground is not our destination. Our RV is self-contained. Except for water, electric and sewer rarely do we use campground services or amenities. We are explorers, not campground reviewers!

We stayed on site 41 at the Boise/Meridian KOA Campground in Meridian. 30 and 50 amp service were available. The campground was clean and well maintained. Our full hook up (water-sewer-electric) back in site was on rocks. Our site was just long enough for our 35’ motorhome; there was space for the Jeep next to the RV. There was good cell phone coverage (Verizon). Our site had a good open southern sky for our satellite, though I am not sure that would be true everywhere in the park. Reasonably easy off and on I-84.

Not the campground’s fault, but UPS delivery is very unpredictable here. For some reason the UPS driver could not find the KOA. We had to go to the UPS distribution center to retrieve our package.

The campground was convenient to pretty much everywhere. We would stay here again.

Fun Facts

Boise is nicknamed “The City of Trees”.

During the summer, Idaho is the 5th driest (arid) state in the country.

Idaho is called the “Gem State” because nearly every known type of gemstone has been found in the state of Idaho. More than 72 different precious and semi-precious gemstones are mined from Idaho. Idaho is one of only two places in the world where star garnets can be found in any significant quantities (India is the other).

63% of Idaho is public domain, the largest proportion of any state’s land mass. Idaho’s combined wilderness is over 4.7 million acres, which is greater than the three smallest U.S. states combined. The total land area of Rhode Island, Delaware, and Connecticut is collectively smaller than Idaho’s combined wild, roadless areas.

The statehouse in Boise is geo thermally heated from underground hot springs, pumped from a source 3,000 feet underground.

	Boise	Meridian
Population:	237,446	125,963
Founded:	1864	1891
Elevation:	2,700 ft.	2,605 ft.
Average Income:	$33,548	$36,677
Average cost of housing:	$486,000	$574,700
Median age:	38	36

Websites:
https://www.cityofboise.org
https://meridiancity.org/

Summary

We are happy for the people who live in Boise that there is so much construction going on. It means people are working and services are being updated. Sadly, we did not get to see or experience Boise like we hoped we would. Maybe next time.

Since beginning our full-time journey to discover the country, we have found something to appreciate in every city and town we have passed through. We hope you enjoy reading about them as much as we have enjoyed discovering them!

Your partners in travel,
Kathryn and Dave
RVing Nomads

It’s a lifestyle

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