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Published: January 16th 2012
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Our taxi picked us up at 4.30am from our New York duplex to go to the airport and not surprisingly there was not a lot of enthusiasm amongst the troops for our twelve hours of travelling and two flights to get to Boise, Idaho. Idaho made it on to the itinerary largely due to a request from my Aunt to visit her and it also had the added bonus of a place to get a bit more skiing in before we reach our main skiing destination of Powder Mountain, Utah. None of us were too sure what we would find - but we were very pleasantly surprised.
Boise is a low set city of about 300,000 people in a pretty sparsely populated state. In January the landscape is mostly brown, but it is not difficult to imagine the tree lined streets when they are full of green or autumn hued leaves. Again, there is a huge contrast from where we have just been. Boise has no billboards, high rise or large signage. It is just a really pretty place with a very impressive Capitol Building.
We are staying in Middleton, about a half hours drive out of the city
View from a barn in Idaho
on the way from Boise to McCall in a very attractive small estate with large, new luxury homes and beautifully landscaped lake and gardens. My aunt's home is an extremely warm and comfortable base for a couple of days of exploring Boise. A highlight of our time together is our lunch at the Cottonwood Grill, set in a beautiful stone/timber building overlooking a bike path and gardens.The food is delicious and the decor very stylish. While in Boise we also visited Sports Authority - a sports lovers paradise - and picked up some well priced ski pants for the boys and ski gloves for Michael and I, so we are all fully kitted out for skiing. All we need is some snow!!
Of course as luck would have it, North America is in the throes of its worst ski season in living memory and the north west region is no exception. While in New York we were becoming resigned to the idea that our stay at Bogus Basin, near Boise, was going to be ski free. But we were a little unsure as to what we would be able to do there for 5 days, so I started emailing the manager of the apartments and on
Club Cabin, McCall
Our very lovely little cabin in the snow, with the most comfy lounges ever! our arrival in Boise, we checked messages and found that they were willing to cancel our reservation and refund our money in full.
My aunt leapt on this news and sent me to the computer to find a place to stay in McCall, as she had heard that Brundage Mountain had all lifts and runs operating. With the help of Tamara at InIdaho.com we soon had booked a beautiful little 2 bedroom cabin at McCall - Club Cabin, for the princely sum of $135 per night, plus cleaning fee. What a great deal! And we also had ordered our reduced price ski lift tickets. $89 each for 3 days skiing for the boys and $130 each for Michael and I. Fantastic!
Even better news was the forecast for snow on Tuesday, so we picked up a Jeep Grand Cherokee hire car on the Saturday and then headed off on Sunday morning for the drive to McCall. It doesn't take long to leave the outskirts of Boise and it is a very easy run up the mountains on Highway 55. We passed through several small towns and the road ran beside the pretty Payette river for most of our
journey.
Snow cover became more prevalent as we got closer to McCall, a town which we instantly fell in love with. McCall is at the edge of Lake Payette, which is currently covered in ice and snow but would be stunning in any season. We dropped off the groceries and bags to our gorgeous little cabin and then headed back to town to hire some skis and have a wander along the lake. The boys at the Home Sports ski shop were very friendly and laid back and we had the place to ourselves, so the task of being measured and fitted was much more pleasant than it usually is.
The boys got into the spirit of things throwing snowballs at each other along the edge of the lake while we clamber over jetty's that are raised out of the water and covered in snow. All the beautiful boats would be tucked up nice and warm in cozy sheds at this time of year.
Monday morning we get into the ski gear and drive the few miles up to Brundage Ski Resort. The day is just stunning - we couldn't ask for nicer conditions for our first
time on the slopes in 5 years. However we make the mistake of assuming that all green runs are easy and after a very short warm up we take the Bear Chair for what we think will be some good green runs from the middle of the mountain. Pretty soon we discover that a green run at Brundage is more like a blue at most other places, as the boys and I struggle to make it down a steep slope on the Bear Run. Piper and I decide to spend the rest of the day cruising the Easy Street run and getting our confidence back, while Michael takes Taylor to check out a few more runs that might be better for us to try.
On Tuesday we wake to snow falling around us and a weather forecast of heavy fog on the mountain, so decide to take a break and instead of skiing explore the lake area we are in with a long walk to town. We love the name signs that are on posts at the corners of many of the small lanes heading towards the lake. We can picture school holidays when all the families return for
their bi annual vacations at their lake houses and the parents and kids reconnect. For our walk we pack a picnic lunch to eat at the Rotary Park and then finish off with the most amazing fudge/chocolate/peanut toffee apples from the McCall Candy Company shop. Never seen anything like them before and they taste as good as they look.
The next day we are ready for another great day of skiing and after the snow falls, the conditions along the mostly ungroomed Easy Way - off the Bear chair, are much improved and we are all able to do a lot more runs and enjoy ourselves doing them. We only stop at 4pm because our legs are getting tired and our toes are now so frozen we are starting to wonder if they will ever thaw out again. Michael (our expert skier) has been able to give the boys some one on one tips and they are both feeling much more confident about their skiing.
On our last day in McCall we head off on another lake and bush walk and decide to visit McCall Boatworks - classic timber boat builders and restorers based just a few minutes
Fudge/Chocolate/Nut/Toffee apples in McCall
delicious treats from the McCall Candy Company away from our cabin. Don, the owner, is very welcoming of fellow woody boat owners/lovers and takes us for a tour through the workshop and then into the clean room, where the varnishing gets done. There are 4 boats being worked on at the moment - one of them, a completely renovated 1936 Chris Craft - Justice - which came second at the 2010 Lake Tahoe boat show - the most important and prestigious show in the US. He is doing some fine tuning so it comes first next time! Michael gets some maintenance pointers for our boat before we leave Don and his team to get back to their work and passion.
We leave McCall feeling very satisfied and look forward to visiting again one day. Next time during June to October, when we could go out on the Lake on a beautiful wooden boat. But for now it is back to Boise for our flight to neighbouring Utah. Idaho has been a very pleasant surprise.
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