eyedahoe

Idaho

Okay, so leaving Montana from Glacier, going through Butte (Don't ever go to Butte, MT), was beautiful... once I got through Butte. Butte was ugly. Ugh. Anyways, I kept south on I-15 South. Everything was pretty sparse, there were some cool mountain ranges off in the distance, it was a nice drive, but as soon as you hit Idaho, all beauty fades. Everything is dead again, almost zero greenery, few mountains, and, well, not a lot to look at. Kind of a bummer. It was that way all the way to Boise, which was a little prettier.

First stop in Idaho was in Idaho Falls, which had a small little downtown area, and a whole lot of nothing else. There was a nice river bridge with a scenic little waterfall, but that's it. I went to the Idaho Brewing Company here and tried their barleywine. I'd have tried more of their beers, but it was cash only and I only had a 5. They also didn't have an ATM. Hey, cash only business owners, here's a tip: Get an ATM in your store if you don't take cards. You're just pissing business away. Oh well, the barleywine was very flavorful, pretty heavy in ABV, I could taste it. It was no Bigfoot (sierra nevada's barleywine, my barleywine gold standard, as it's complex, bitter, and smooth). It was okay, the people here were a bunch of 40 – 60 year olds that seemed to know each other. That scared me. That tells me people do not leave this town. It tells me that they've probably known each other their entire lives. I want nothing to do with that. I high tailed it outta there and headed for Pocatello.

I arrived in Pocatello after sunset, and found my way to port neuf brewing company as per the request of one of my uncles who lived in Pocatello for a while. I went, tried 3 or 4 of their beers and was impressed. The bartender was a new guy, and he was awesome. Very friendly, on top of his shit, excellent service. At the bar were three colleagues who were in Pocatello on business. They were funny people, we joked around a bit and had a pretty good time. They were all from the east coast, so was the bar tender. Small world. I left the brewery and went to a KOA campground and slept in my car.

The next day, I had another location in Pocatello I was told to check out. It's a place called Buddy's. It's an Italian joint which has the best Italian Dressing I've ever consumed. I don't know what they put in that thing, but it's probably crack-cocaine. I would highly recommend going here just to get a salad with Buddy's dressing on it.

I then went back to Port Neuf Brewing Company to finish off their beer menu, as their beers were very good. I did just that without making haste and proceeded to Boise. I was originally going to stop in Twin Falls, ID, but people keep telling me that it's more boring than Idaho Falls, so I skipped it. I went straight to Boise.

Boise was pretty sweet. Little bit of a college scene there, some nice little college kid neighborhoods as you arrive into town. The city is pretty full of things to do. I used my phone's map app and looked up a brewery in town, as I so often do. I found the Sockeye Grill and Brewery and set sail. It was fantastic. Their stout was very thick bodied with a really intense malty finish. I ordered chicken fingers and they were, while just simple chicken fingers, some of the most fantastic chicken fingers I've ever consumed. Seriously. The bartender was some kid who clearly didn't want to be there, which was kind of annoying. Oh well. I was unable to locate a place that seemed suitable for car sleeping, so I made my way to a wal-mart supercenter and slept in the parking lot. Womp.

That's really all for Idaho. I guess one other notable thing is that the water there is a very strange shade of blue. I don't know if it's the contrast against all the dead grass, or if it's just... different? I don't know, but this is what bodies of water look like in Idaho:

I was sort of disappointed. I had heard great things from my uncles about Pocatello, which I'm sure had credence to them, just not today. I had heard that Boise was a small, really happening little city. This was not the case, it was sort of bigger than I had imagined. It did seem pretty happening, I guess, but I just wasn't feeling it. I just didn't feel at home in that neck of the woods, which had me very, very excited to make my way to Portland, OR. The Pacific northwest holds promises of beauty, fun, and some of the best beer in the country.

See you out there, on the road, somewhere.

-Skwar