We woke up feeling a little woozy the day after our housewarming party. It was one of the best housewarming parties I’ve been a part of to this day and it was great connecting my friends with my new roomie’s friends. Its super exciting when you become acquainted with people that when your differing friend-groups come together, they all merge seamlessly. Our party included a huge game of Taboo, build-your-own kebabs, an adult potluck where everyone actually brought a dish to share rather than a bag of chips and salsa (like all the “potlucks” I attended before the age of 24), sports in our big green backyard, and at the end of the night a 20-person dance party with everyone playing dress up in my colorful/patterned kimonos and outfits. Our house officially feels much “warmer,” (people were literally sweating during the dance party, but it mostly feels warmer because we have the coolest friends and the best conversation).
Brunch and red-beer from PreFunk was our plans for the morning. I was hoping for something more along the lines of a Bloody Mary, but red beer was the closest thing they had to offer. This was my first time sipping on this interesting combo and I can’t say that I’d ever try it again. For the second round, the day had us feeling like drinking lighter breakfasty-beers, so we sampled every sour beer on tap around the table. My favorite was the Ginger Root cider from local brewery Meriwether Cider. There was an Alaskan Brewing rep conducting a drinking competition, so of course we hopped on board the fun-train. Her competition required that we check-in and partake in the events taking place at three different bars around town. We didn’t plan on having the day turn into a Sunday-Funday, but who can say no to day-drinking and winning prizes?
We hopped to Taphouse for some $2.00 mimosas and a few rounds of Cornhole. Our decided team name was “The Grand Tetons” because we wanted a subtly clean name (in comparison to most of the team names), though secretly alluding to the true French meaning of Grand Tetons—big titties. The Big Titties proceeded to win BOTH rounds of Cornhole we played and they finally excommunicated us from contending because we were siphoning too much loot from the grasps of the competition, and Alaskan Brewing wanted to share the wealth. We made it out with two T-shirts, two beer koozies and one XL-sweater (not sure what a team of two small girls is supposed to do with a singular XL sweater?). Finishing the final gulps of our mimosas, we hit the streets for East Boise to explore the old Penitentiary and the Botanical Gardens.
Our first stop was the old Penitentiary. Every family in Boise must have heard about this “free museum” day because the parking lot was absolutely packed and there was quite a line to get in. There were mostly families with children, and then us boozy bicyclists. My friend, that isn’t a fan of children, mean-mugged virtually every misbehaving toddler in the place as we walked around. While (I guess) history is a cool subject to learn about, prison, murder, suicide, death, starvation and sorrow aren’t really my cup of tea. The penitentiary had some weird dark vibes and I think the museum tried to hone in on these scary emotions by putting signs up like, “This building was designed by so-and-so, an inmate that was held here for 34 years… on day of his release back into the world, he committed suicide.” I was like, “Wow, lets go look at some pretty flowers please.”
I’ve been to the Botanical Gardens twice during the winter months for “Winter Garden aGlow,” but I’ve never seen the gardens in their full-Spring-spectrum. Everything was freshly lush from the April showers we’ve been having and the air here was sweet and damp compared to the Urban Heat Island Effect that was occurring from all the cement within the penitentiary grounds. We strolled through the greenery, petting pink petals to feel their coolth and softness. Finding a shady grove, we sat to chat for a while as we took in the sights and sounds around us. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the children were fighting… and all was well in the world.
After feeling like we got our “money’s worth” at the free museum extravaganza, we wanted to make it back to the final drinking-game-checkpoint, Silly Birch, before the 4:30 cutoff time. We arrived a few minutes late and asked the rep if we could still participate in the raffle drawing she was in the process of pulling. At first she was a little hesitant to let us drop our tickets into the bucket, but she conclusively caved. She then proceeded to draw a name without even stirring the pot and, what do ya know, I WON!! The grand-prize was a full-size portable basketball hoop that they’re delivering to my doorstep tomorrow. I swear I’ve been so lucky lately, I need to buy a lotto ticket! 😉
Always,
Eventure Squad
