Went back to Boise, Idaho, for the first time in 25 years. My Dad and I drove for about 10 hours from Sacramento, California, through Neveda and Oregon. We came to visit my Dad's family and bury my Mom's ashes with her parents in Weiser Cemetery. We were there from July 19th through July 27th.

Boise Depot

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This is the old train station that overlooks downtown Boise and the state capitol.  Now a museum with a koi pond and garden. My Dad told me he had to cross the railroad tracks to walk five miles to attend school when he was growing up.

Boise Valley

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Boise today was what San Jose, CA, was thirty years ago when I was growing up.  All the farms being replaced by new housing tracts, shopping malls, and freeways.  Won't be long before Boise looks like San Jose today.  We drove over a bridge that wasn't there when my Dad visited a few years before back, taking us on a brand new road that overlooked the valley.

Lucky Peak Dam

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This beautiful area is north of Boise.  The earthen dam was built in the 1930's as a federal work project.

Snake River Stampede

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This was my first rodeo event, held inside the Idaho Center.

Weiser Cemetary

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My Dad, Aunt Pat, and I came out to Weiser Cemetary (40 miles northwest of Boise) on Thursday to locate where my Mom's parents were buried and make arrangements at the city hall (located in a strip mall) to have her ashes buried between them.

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The following Monday, my Dad, Aunt Kris and I left my Mom's ashes inside a pencil box wrapped in black duct tape and a stuffed cat.  My Dad and I cried all the away back to Boise.

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Since my grandparents only had markers for their graves, my Dad ordered a family headstone for all three.  We were sent a picture of the headstone a month later.

Family Reunion

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We gathered together at the Golden Corral for dinner.  I was sitting at the adult end of the table but all the action was at the kid end of the table that later spilled out into the parking lot.  My uncle came out in his tractor to take a break from baling hay and say goodbye to us.