Idaho

Initially I was supposed to travel to the US for work in May. It had been in discussion for some time to go to New York and Washington DC for various reasons, including advocacy and fund raising for our work in Somalia. The trip to Paris was meant to be combined with the work trip. In addition, I was also going to add on a trip to Idaho to be there at a critical time as we are finishing the house we are building. In the end, the work trip would be postponed (still likely to happen at some point), but the other “add ons” happened anyway.

I arrived in the evening, picked up my rental car and drove to my sister’s home in Boise. They were at their house in Mexico but graciously allowed me to stay there anyway. But I would only be there one night before heading to to my parents’ place a couple hours away. Before leaving, however, the timing of my trip coincided with a Kentucky Derby party hosted by my niece and her husband. A good way to see lots of family at one time. Before hitting the road for my parents' place, I needed to see what a Derby party was all about.

 

Derby Party

To be honest, I didn’t know there was such a thing as a Derby party, outside of the Louisville area. As if Cinco de Mayo wasn’t enough to give Americans a reason to throw a party, a day later would be yet another excuse before many had sobered up from the day prior.

no time for jetlag

Admittedly, it seems to be more of an elegant affair than the American interpretation of the Mexican holiday the day prior. Hats are the order of the day – the more flamboyant the better. Traveling internationally with only a carry-on, I was obviously without appropriate head gear. So my sister supplied me with a fedora, albeit one a size or two too small.

It was an amazing spread of food in my niece and husband’s new house, the preliminary horse races on the screen in the background. The actual race was fun to watch, though it’s obviously short. In about two minutes the whole thing is over. Other than a rare boxing match and some track and field disciplines, there are few events that end so quickly.

 

Heading South

Without much time to linger, I needed to begin the couple-hour drive to see my parents. I would have less than 24 hours with them and I had a lot to do.

The first evening would only be catching up and having dinner. The next morning would be a frantic effort to clean, organize, etc. my belongings in preparation of consolidating them this summer in a single storage unit (which we plan to build). Early afternoon I would be off to join my mother at her church before heading out on the 4 ½-hour drive north to the mountains.

 

McCall/New Meadows

I arrived in McCall just in time to go to dinner with my sister and brother at a very nice restaurant. The town was pleasantly quiet. It’s between seasons (winter activities and summer). For me, it’s the town at its best. Low traffic. Easier to run errands. Mostly locals milling about.

While I was there, the temperature took a dip. The first morning was chilly but manageable with my non-winter clothing. But on day two, snow began to fall and I was fearing that it might hamper my ability to get things done. I borrowed a sweatshirt from my sister and headed out to the property. As I arrived at the property, it became apparent that at this side of the mountain there had been no snow. And so the work began.

My brother was gracious enough with his time to work side-by-side during the 3 ½ days I would have to get as much done as possible (and my sister pitched in one morning). I didn’t really have any specific expectations (the amount of work to be done is endless), but the main idea was to work on the property while the contractors worked on the house, making myself available as needed for questions to keep things moving. The timing ended up being fantastic as several important decisions came up while I was there. It made me feel all the better about the cost/time investment in the trip.

At one point I was alerted to the fact that there was a miscommunication regarding the tiling in the guest bathroom. It necessitated a trip to a home improvement store a couple hours away (across the border into Oregon) to avoid a disruption in the work. The contractors were not based in the area and a rupture in their work would result in additional delay and cost. My brother offered his time and pick-up to the excursion which ended up being a rather pleasant outing, involving time to hang out and lunch/drinks at a local place in Weiser on the way back. 

 

* * *

My brother and I ended up focusing on cleaning up scrap wood, both from a fallen trees/branches but also from a milling project carried out by the previous owner. The land had formerly been blessed with a couple dozen massive ponderosa pine trees. Allegedly, there was a mountain pine beetle infestation and killed all, or at least most, of them. It appears that owner decided to fell the trees, set up a mill to process and eventually sell the wood. The mill work left a considerable amount of scrap wood, some of which was in piles, some strewn randomly about the property.

It was tragic, really. Some of the trees were about five feet in diameter. Massive craters have been left behind where stumps were either excavated or at least a demonstrated effort to do so. Long-time residents from the area have told me that it was a gorgeous grove of enormous trees.

There is evidence that trees are making a comeback. Some saplings are nearly head-high and hopefully most will survive. We’re also planning on planting some trees to complement nature’s efforts. Sooner the better since I want to be alive to enjoy them.

* * *

Several times throughout the week, I stopped and just enjoyed the moment – looking around, taking in the beautiful surroundings. I grew up working with my hands. As my career has moved me in a direction where the vast majority of what I do is at a desk (and/or in meetings), I have missed the satisfaction that this sort of thing provides. I often feel that I am more wired to be doing this sort of thing than what I do in my current occupation. I aspire to do more once I retire. Whenever that is.

By Thursday, it was time to pack up the tools and wrap things up. The work in the house had advanced significantly. The heated flooring was done and given the approval by the electrical inspector. The tile work was nearly done. The cabinets had been delivered and were ready to be installed. I was thankful that the finish line is getting nearer.

 

Boise

I arrived in Boise in the afternoon. My sister and brother-in-law had plans to go for a bike ride up to a nearby reservoir. They had some gear for me and I was happy to join. No time to rest on this trip.

The ride followed the Boise River southeast of the city. The spring precipitation provided greener scenery from what I am accustomed to when we normally arrive in July/August. The area is still desert and mostly sagebrush, but a slightly verdant landscape and lower evening sun made for some rich colors.

We stopped for pizza prior to heading home. Afterwards I had a bit of a mishap on the bike and ended up breaking my left elbow. I’m obviously no stranger to broken bones, but after having all the drama with my right arm/wrist last year, I was more than a little frustrated to be back in a splint cast so soon. It would complicate travel back to Nairobi but it would also complicate life in general for a few weeks.

After a change of baggage strategy, thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, I was off to the airport the next afternoon, anxious to be reunited with my wife and daughters. I was exhausted after a fast-paced week of tourism followed by a fast-paced week of work and running around southern Idaho. But, overall, it was mission accomplished.

Paris 6 - Versailles

The Palace of Versailles

This would be our last full day in Paris. We would be leaving the next morning. We had one last “big ticket” visit on our list. The Palace of Versailles.

I should say that of all the critical things to see in Paris, this is the most challenging to get to. In fact, it’s not really in Paris. Rather it’s more of a suburb about 19 km. southwest of the city. There are a number of ways to get there via public transportation, but it does take a chunk out of your day.

* *  *

The massive 30,000-acre tourist destination we see today began as a simple hunting lodge built by Louis XIII in 1623. With his passing came Louis XIV who expanded the relatively small château into the beginnings of a palace. In 1682, Louis XIV moved his government to Versailles, making the palace the de facto capital of France until 1789 when the royal family and capital returned to Paris. At one point, over 5,000 people could be accommodated in Versailles’ large living space.

The gardens of Versailles are some of the largest and most spectacular in the world and contain 372 statues, 55 water features, 600 fountains and over 20 miles of water pipes. Hundreds of thousands of plants and trees have been continually planted over the years. While this makes the gardens look amazing, in the 17th century the fragrance from these blooms in Trianon was so overpowering it made guests feel ill and drove them away.

The palace was large, but a potential oversight from the architect was the distance between the kitchen and the dining rooms. With sometimes over 5,000 people to feed, hundreds of servants were needed to get all those mouths fed. Unfortunately for the king, the distance from his seat to the kitchen was so far away, his meals were often served cold. Eventually, in the 18th century, Louis XV had private kitchens built in his private apartments.

* *  *

For the rest of the French Revolution, the Palace of Versailles was largely abandoned and emptied of its contents, and the population of the surrounding city plummeted. In 1792, the National Convention, the new revolutionary government, ordered the transfer of all the paintings and sculptures from the palace to the Louvre. In 1793, the Convention declared the abolition of the monarchy and ordered all of the royal property in the palace to be sold at auction.

Napoleon I, following his coronation, used Versailles as a summer residence from 1810 to 1814, but didn’t restore it due to the huge cost. Though the palace was used in different ways over the following years, there wasn’t a serious effort to restore it until the late 1800s. It returned to the world stage in June 1919, when, after six months of negotiations, the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending World War I, was signed in the Hall of Mirrors. Restoration has continued to today, interrupted only by WWII. One of the more costly endeavors has been to repurchase as much of the original furnishings as possible, auctioned off during the Revolution.

self-portrait in the Hall of Mirrors

* *  *

The palace is large enough that when visiting with children, it’s important to maintain a certain pace as you move from room to room. With the large crowds and seemingly endless series of rooms, it’s a lot, even for me. The Hall of Mirrors, the Palace show piece, gives reason to linger a bit and imagine all of the history that has happened in that room. Eventually, we made our way out into the gardens and zigzagging around the paths. A couple of the fountains are set to music – a modern enhancement that the royalty of the past would definitely have appreciated.

We concluded our visit by venturing out into the town of Versailles to carry out a task that formerly was very common and easy: sending postcards. Today it is neither. But, thanks to my wife, it was important for us to explain to our daughters what postcards are and how to mail them. Given the bother, it’s unlikely that they will replicate the effort in future travels.

We also made an effort to purchase an affordable Kylian Mbappé jersey, the football/soccer star and newly named captain of the French national team. In the end, we opted on ordering it in the US and I picked one up a week later for half the price. The specific request from our daughter, Kinaya, was that it would not be the national team jersey but of his team, Paris Saint-Germain. Unfortunately, he’s shopping for a new team and the PSG jersey is in the process of becoming a relic.

* *  *

Thus ended our time in Paris. The next morning, we all headed to the airport. We said our good-byes as my wife and daughters went to one terminal (to return to Nairobi) and I went to another (to carry on to the US). The trip was amazing and well worth the effort to squeeze it into our (my) calendar. The busyness would now be cranked up a notch or two.