Boise, Saturday 1-Jul
Another full day of the Winkle Family Reunion. This time with lunch in the park, a stroll through campus, and a short hike along a segment of the Oregon Trail.
The family reunion continued on Saturday with a trip through the Saturday Market, but Melody and I decided to rest up in the morning, so we missed going there. We heard from several people that they had a good time, though.
Lunch and Boise State
We did make it to lunch in Julia Davis Park. We were getting quite familiar with the park, since we went through it each time we walked between our room and the reunion hotel. This time through, however, we were in for a bit of a surprise. Melody said, “It's a giraffe!” Sure enough, we could see a giraffe behind a fence, walking back and forth in the park's zoo. What made it funny is it looked a lot like a giraffe statue positioned behind a tall hedge in Seattle. The same amount of the giraffe was showing, even!
The group was gathered by the rose garden, so they were easy to find. Long sub sandwiches and sides were there, and as you would expect, the food and conversation were great.
After lunch there were a couple excursions. Brenda took a group to the Anne Frank Museum, and we went with Carola to walk through Boise State University. It's a very pleasant campus. We heard about it changed from a junior college to a university (they started offering baccalaureate degrees in 1965). It was also fun to hear Carola tell us about how much she and Bill have enjoyed their time there.
Carola wanted to make sure we saw the blue turf at the stadium. We naturally couldn't go inside, but we were able to catch a peek of the corner. Yep, blue.
It was after this that we split up; Keith, Bev, Kenny, and Carmen had brought their bikes, so they went to ride around. Curt, Brad, and Ashley went to find a bike rental kiosk to join them, and Erika went to walk through the rose garden. We went into the library to look around, since it was open. After that, we walked the short way back to our room to relax and cool off from the day's heat.
Dinner and the Oregon Trail
Since we were staying not far from campus, we just went back to our room to cool back down. We then drove south for dinner at the recreation center where the Boise Winkles live. We had BBQ chicken and pork sliders with sides which people gobbled up. After a bit of socializing, everyone pitched in to help clean up, and we were off to Bill and Carola's place for dessert.
All during the weekend there was a large bowl of cherries which, even though everyone kept taking big handfuls, never seemed to go down. They were from Bill and Carola's cherry tree, and we got to see it when we got to their home. It's very large, and there were still many cherries still on the tree (most people reached up and grabbed a few for a quick snack). After going inside, we were greeted with a large selection of cookies, and people separated into different rooms to chat.
We also wandered through the yard, where old brass instruments were used as sculptures. They were the perfect touch to reflect their careers and personalities.
Next up was a walk in the Oregon Trail Reserve. We got great views of downtown and of the Kelton Ramp, a path which travelers took down to the Boise River. We did see a small section where the original wagon wheel ruts were visible and overgrown with sagebrush.
The last stop was at Brenda's house for Italian sodas. There was a big selection of syrups, and cream and whipped cream were available. It should be no surprise that it was another chance for people to chat with each other, but at the end of the evening there were some people who we wouldn't see in the morning, so we said our goodbyes to them.
There was another cousin's night, and once again we were too worn out, so we made it back to the room and turned in early.
