Camping

It's hot. In the 90's for a week and expected to continue. People like to say Boise has a dry heat, but it is a dry heat like Simi Valley, not a dry heat like Vegas. It was even hot in Idaho City on our way to camping.

We camped on a mining claim outside of Idaho City. We took our time getting there and stopped for an ice cream, even though the trip wasn't a disaster yet. It is hard to believe the last time I was in Idaho City it was freezing and Sunday afternoon I was walking outside in a tank top and eating an ice cream. We took a look inside a bar that still looks like it is before the turn of the century, but first we had to wait for this biker girl to come out the door. She looked at us and called us campers, which I do not think she meant as a compliment. She should have let us go on in, since we waited 10 minutes for a leisurely stream of at least 10 bikers to spill out of the bar before we could go in. Half of the stream were women and while we waited, we were amused by the wide variety of large, ill-shaped breasts and decided this is a biker-chick requirement.

We pulled into the road to the mining claim and stopped when we got to the river,


Just down the way, we made camp,


not too far from this part of the river, which was running fast and freezing cold,



And on the opposite side of camp were meadows full of wildflowers,



I bought myself a camp chair, which came with the following disclaimers,

This chair holds a maximum of 225 lbs, exceeding this limit may cause personal injury.
Care should be taken to avoid tipping while seated.
Use chair only on level surface.
To avoid injuries to fingers, use care when folding the chair.

You know these warnings would be there, but really? I can see the chair being partly responsible for pinched fingers, but if you tip out of the chair because it is not on a level surface and fall and hit your head, is the chair liable? The chair was not actively responsible for the injury to your head. My chair came with one cup holder, but Margo's came with three, with a "shelf" feature really being an excuse for two more cup holders. Seems to me that to avoid tipping, there should be a maximum of one cup holder.

I did not need a mat, I slept on a 10 inch thick mat of pine needles, and I brought my chair, sleeping bag, emergency supplies, breakfast, including the apple bread, and metal camp mugs. Margo supplied the rest. Most of her stuff was second-hand or found and I was impressed. The only thing we thought we missed was a water bucket, and we should have planned the fire bucket better and placed it on rocks or something not flammable. Margo made fun of me making a deal about adding bug spray to my emergency pack, until we really needed it at about 6 pm.

When we left, as my thank you offering I left a set of colored threads from my sewing kit for the birds.

On my way home from Margo's I drove along the part of the rim which is above Ann Morrison Park, just down from my house. At 2 in the afternoon, chairs and people were lining up for the 4th of July view. After my peaceful day in the forest, the last thing I wanted to do was be in that crowd, so I did not go. Besides, Margo reminded me that it does not get dark in Boise until after 10, which means late fireworks until at least 11 pm on a work night. Neighborhood noise followed the park fireworks noise, so who knows when it got quiet, but I fell asleep anyway. Someone at work today said it was a really good year for fireworks sales.

Yesterday evening I picked some of my sweet peas and ate some out of the pod and then some I ate the whole pod, peas and all. They were the best peas I've ever had.