BoiseBeerFest, Pursuit Church and the Bascom Chili Fest

Visited the Boise BeerFest with Lori, listened to an awesome Colossians 4:6 message at the Pursuit Boise and then visited the Bascoms in Nampa for some chili, football, Apples to Apples and living room wrestling.

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
Matt's awesome beaut of a baby

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:

  • right off the plane, went direct to Pie Hole for late night pizza
  • Breakfast at Goldy’s
  • Walked around downtown Boise- picked up free “Idaho” potatoe pins.
  • Went to a local MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) event.
  • Attended a wedding reception on the Boise River.
  • Floated down the Boise river.
  • Moe barbecued mussels, steak, corn and also made some rice. I just supplied the beer. :shrug:
  • Drove into Homedale past the Idaho/Oregon line (since we were close)
  • Watched almost the whole season of Freaks and Geeks, fueled by bucket strawberry margaritas
  • Had lunch at Donnie Mac’s Trailer Park Cuisine
  • Ate a Mondo Burger and a Peanut Butter/Chocolate shake from Westside Drive-In
  • 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!