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Midnight Criterium cycling race in downtown!
Andrea and I watched the Midnight Criterium cycling race as they screamed through downtown.
BoiseBeerFest, Pursuit Church and the Bascom Chili Fest
We had an awesome Sunday. After sleeping in until 11am, we checked out the BoiseBeerFest. Something we love about Boise is that when there is something happening and it is beautiful outside, people take advantage of it. Some people would do this back in California- for example, Joel, Adam, Brent, Matt and Trent would all jump in and have a great time at the Fairvilla house barbecuing. I have to hang it to my friend Matt- he always comes up with great ideas and brings people into LA for fun adventures.
We are trying to balance a life of all the groups we attend and also experience our own marriage and each other while also experiencing what we can in each season. My sister just sent us an awesome, MASSIVE raft which we’ll hopefully be launching unto the Boise River this Wednesday.
Below are some of the photos I took today.
Matt's awesome beaut of a baby
mexican Food Night!
Posted by charles on Aug 7, 2009 in Uncategorized
Tonight we are headed to Boise’s Basque festival. What is a Basque festival? Think lots of dancing with white and red clothes.
Basque is a culture from Spain that settled here in Boise. Now they own a good amount of the local businesses and have made sure to preserve their culture with a spot downtown.
Best things in Boise (Food, Water, MMA)
On thursday, three friends visited us. Andrea and I love Boise, so we strategized with each other on how to make the best of their trip. Here’s the list of stuff we did and I’ll break down the awesomeness for you in a bit.
Right off the plane, we brought them to a small downtown pizza eatery called Pie Hole. Sold by the slice, Pie Hole has an awesome atmosphere, cheap beer and great cheap interesting pizza. We had slices named Pesto, Drunk Candy, Jalapeno and something and Potato Bacon. Where can you go to get $1 Pabst and a pizza with Bell Pepper, Mushroom and Salami at 11:30pm at night?
Next morning we went to Goldy’s, Boise’s best downtown breakfast. Man, it was awesome. Blueberry Pancakes, Marionberry Jam, Chorizo and eggs cooked perfectly. I think the best thing there is the Goldy’s Potatoes. These things are amazing- slightly crispy little chunks of goodness with spices. Yeah, this isn’t a Denny’s $4.99 Dinkle Dopper breakfast- usually I spend about $12 a person, but it is worth it.
Some things we did:
I’d never been to a real, live MMA event. Talking to a server at Goldy’s, he mentioned they sometimes have events where tickets are only $8 !! (To compare, general admin tickets in San Diego tend to hover around $80!) Since there were three title bouts, this event was only $24. The seats were pretty good and there was a massive TV in side of the small arena we have in downtown. I started laughing so hard when two little kids came out wearing headgear, tiny shinpads and gloves. How do we start things at a major fight title bout event? Little kids throw down in the octagon.
They were awesome! The first fight was two little girls- both their first debut and they were amazing! They must have been only 5 years old but they were putting combinations together! Of course, there was a lot of brawling, but I have to hand it to them. One girl seemed more comfortable and after about 10 seconds of sizing each other up, they let it fly. Red girl kept advancing at pink girl, pressing her up against the cage and threw tons of punches. Poor pink girl got some points, putting together short round kicks and following up with a punch, but red girl just overpowered her in to the cage.
Round= Red girl
Second round, pink girl tried a different strategy- thai clinch and knees. No, I’m not kidding. A 5-year old was grabbing for a thai clinch and landing knee strikes. Amazing! Red girl kept breaking out of the clinch and brawling her way to some pretty good rights.
Round: Red girl
Third Round and pink girl tried again with her thai clinch. Red girl is having none of that. Red girl breaks the clinch. Pink girl tried to lock up red girls’ gloves. Bad news. Red girl now has underhooks and proceeds to yank pink girl down to the ground. Pink girl pops up. No count. More punches-whilst-moving-forward-like-a-locomotive-train and red girl wins the round- getting close to an MMA stoppage.
The rest of the fight event was also pretty good. We saw decisions, triangles, mount-sweep-mount-sweep jiu-jitsu back/forth, armbars and escapes and a ton of other stuff.
The two women’s matches had a ton of heart. It looks like WFA (Women’s Fight Club) here in Boise has a lot of talent. Those gals seem to work really hard and have great jabs and jiu-jitsu. One women’s match involved one of the gals coming out of ‘retirement’ to fight and it was amazing. Jitsu to wrestling to boxing and some weak kicks. Retirement gal wound up on the ground, passed guard, took mount and eventually grabbed an armbar I was sure was going to let out- but she held on. Armbar FTW!
I think one of my favorite fights involved a guy who came up from Las Vegas and a local fighter who was /acting like a muay-thai fighter. Muay-thai guy comes out, looking to tap gloves but Las Vegas has none of it and throws a sidekick and a punch. The crowd explodes- whoa! After a a short scramble, Las Vegas is looking for a position and muay-thai wraps his legs around Las Vegas’ left leg and boom- Vegas is tapping. What?! Yeah, muay-thai slapped on a heelhook and the fight is done. The crowd erupts. You could taste the retribution.
Floating the Boise river was amazing. The day was the hottest day of the weekend at 96 and the river was shockingly cool. Like so many things here, it was easy- show up, rent a raft, drop it in the river, float down and drop it off when you’re done. Our raft was excellent- the 6 person rafts that Beacon Rentals offer could easily fit 7 people and equipment. Our friends brought an inflatable matress. Except for no ability to steer, that thing was awesome! It was great floating down the river on a bed- ha!
How to shop for your wife
Posted by charles on May 15, 2009 in Bikes, marriedlife
Soon we’ll be riding around town on your bikes. I mean, our bikes.
I’m Engaged!
Posted by charles on Oct 17, 2008 in Uncategorized
Today I proposed to my awesome girlfriend fiance Andrea Lynn Treanor.
First Snow in Boise Photos!
Posted by charles on Oct 11, 2008 in Boise
I can’t believe it- Andrea said the weatherman’s forecast called for snow. What? Californians only see snow after they’ve driven 3 hours and are about to pay $60 to go skiing.
The trees looked like flocked Christmas trees, snow covered EVERYTHING and my truck had 3 inches of snow on the top. There I was, plugging away a 12-hour shift and I realize the rain outside is floating… sideways… and I realized it was snow. I think it snowed on and off for several hours- covering the roofs of nearby buildings.
Reviewing the above paragraph, I realize I wrote the word Snow 6 times. That is a 6-to-5 snow to sentence ratio.
See the photo slideshow above, or listen to my podcast about it:
[display_podcast] (The Podcast contains a photo slideshow- so for extra points, download the Podcast and open in iTunes. Don’t forget to choose View > show Artwork.
Here’s the photo slideshow:
[slideshow=1]
Boise Suburbs Video
Here’s a video showing what the suburbs and University area of Boise looks like.