Snow Day!

We awoke to a winter wonderland this morning!

Happy snow day, Boise!

New Snow!

New snow today in Boise!

An Autumn Walk Through the Boise Front

I love living in The North End. Our cottage, which is located within a National Historic District, is a five minute walk to the charming bustling downtown Boise shops and restaurants in one direction, and a five minute walk in the other direction to the quiet rugged foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I feel like we have the best of both urban and country living here in The North End.

I try to take Tucker for a daily hike in the foothills (called The Boise Front) where dogs are allowed off-leash on many of the trails. Come on along with us today for our autumn walk on the Owls' Roost Trail. 

 It's a beautiful golden day, and I want to try out my new iPhone camera. This is my first smart phone, and I'm loving it.

 Tucker always takes the lead on our hikes, running on ahead to investigate the trail. He never lets me out of his sight, though. He's afraid I'll get lost.

 The Owls' Roost Trail winds in and out of the trees.

 And through the meadows. 

 The trail is named for the owls that have their babies in the nearby cliffs and then teach them to fly and hunt here. 

 In the spring you can see them roosting in the trees and hear them hooting to each other.

 Tucker always stops for his mid-hike drink from this little creek. 

 Then it's back through the trees on the way home.

 This is Tucker's goofy look. I think he's saying, "Thanks! That was a blast!"

Thank you for coming along on our hike. I hope the rest of your day is wonderful!

I'm sharing the Autumn leaves with

Autumn Abounds

Anniversary Trip

I have some photos to share today from my 35th wedding anniversary trip last weekend to the mountains. My husband and I loaded the dog into the car and drove up to McCall, Idaho, a small town on the edge of Payette Lake. It's about a two and half hour drive from Boise along the gorgeous Payette River, which is world renowned for whitewater rafting. 

Tucker was super excited to be getting out of town for the weekend. 

 The first view of the lake is right down the middle of the quaint main street of McCall. Those are the ski hills of Brundage Mountain on the other side of the lake. 

 This statue of playful bears is at the end of the street in the city park.  They epitomize the laid back fun mountain lifestyle here.

 After greeting the bears, we headed right for Ponderosa State Park and found a perfect spot for our picnic beside the water. You can see in this picture that it was just a little bit smoky up in the surrounding mountains. Summer forest fires are a fact of life in Idaho, but McCall's had a very good year so far.

 

You can't have water around without Tucker wanting to retrieve.

 He can do this for hours.  Just look at that smile! He's always a great source of entertainment. 

Google Public Photo

It was too hot to leave Tucker in the car while having dinner at a restaurant, so before heading to our hotel we stopped at My Father's Place for burgers and fries.

Yelp

 When you come to McCall, you have to eat at My Father's Place, and don't forget to order a milkshake.

The next day we went hiking. I love this picture of the boys beneath the tall Ponderosa Pine Trees.

 It was so wonderful to escape the Boise heat for the lush cool green forest. 

  

And hopefully we walked off some of those hamburger calories.

Oops, looks like we didn't! Nice shot, Hon! 

Oh well. After hiking, we found another perfect spot next to the water and spent the afternoon watching the water skiers and sailboats, picnicing, and tossing the ball for Tuck. 

And snoozing. 

It was a great weekend, and a wonderful anniversary to remember. 

Thanks so much for sharing it with us! 

Winter Wonderland

I love the snow! 

And so does Tucker!

   

We left our new tracks in the freshly fallen snow yesterday 

at Anne Morrison Park. 

 

It's an Idaho winter wonderland!