Idaho

The trip to Idaho would be more limited than normal due to the short duration. With less than seven days, we had to make some hard choices as who how we would spend our time. In the end, we would only be able to split time between Boise and the Magic Valley to hang out with my parents.

Kimberly

We headed to Kimberly on Sunday, arriving just in time to attend a church service where my mother plays the piano. It’s a sleepy church, though not quite as sleepy as my mother-in-law’s Presbyterian church in Indiana. The US is loaded with churches that are slowly dying or already have died. You also have a growth in mega churches. Usually when we are in Indiana, we attend the Presbyterian church service and then zip over to the cousins’ mega church about a half hour away. There’s just enough time to make it given the timing of the services. It’s quite the contrast. A quiet liturgical service with less than a dozen people in a traditional church building followed by a couple thousand-person congregation with a rather loud worship band in a massive theater.

familiar view of my mom at the piano

The former is slowly disappearing as society changes. Good riddance say some. I find it a bit sad, really. I’m a combination of my age and personality but I feel that there’s something comforting about a more traditional church. Mega churches stress me out. I see the appeal though. With economies of scale, massive institutions like that can have a major impact on supporting their local communities (if they choose to do so). They also have the resources to meet the needs of a broader spectrum of the population. They have bands and multimedia productions. Elaborate childcare facilities. Loads of activities. But it’s easier for someone to get lost in the shuffle.

We try to attend church with my mom when we're in the US, usually about every 6-12 months. Each time it seems that at least one member of the congregation has passed away in the interim. There aren’t too many young faces and the attrition puts the future of the church in question. But it was nice to reconnect with those that I know. I've known some of these people since I was a kid and they’ve been very supportive of my mom. Her piano playing days won’t last forever, but for now I think it’s as important to her as it is for them.

* * *

Pomerelle

The next morning, we were out of bed fairly early to head to the mountains to do some skiing. I was a bit torn about the idea of skiing given the short time that we would be there. It seemed a bit self-indulgent. But my parents know me well and they just assumed that's what we were going to do. I was going to try to compromise by leaving super early and trying to get back by early afternoon. As it was, we were delayed getting on the mountain due to their new registration and payment system. We eventually figured it out, but we lost a lot of time and it pushed our ski day into the late afternoon.

the same slopes where I learned to ski

Pomerelle is place where I used to ski when I was young and I hadn’t skied there since then. According to their website, it’s one of the oldest ski areas in the western US, beginning its operations in 1940. On the edge of the Magic Valley, the location of the mountain is such that it punches above its weight class when it comes to snow. It’s elevation, at 8,762 feet (2,671 m), is not incredibly high but it attracts more snow than the other Idaho ski areas.

the beauty is half the fun of skiing

With a vertical drop of only 1,002 feet (305 m), it can be a bit tedious for good skiers. You end up spending a lot of time on the lift. Thankfully, the larger lift has been upgraded since I was a kid and is considerably faster.

But for people that are learning to ski, I have never been to a better mountain. Milk run, which has kept its name since back in the day, was exactly as I remember it: wide with a gradual slope. It would be where we spent most of the day as I worked with the girls on their turns. I was curious as to how they were going to do given that they hadn’t been on skis in two years and have only been on the slopes a few times over course of their young lives. I wanted them to enjoy it even though, like many things, it becomes more enjoyable to the better you are. For better or worse, skiing is something that is important to me. It’s not necessary for it to be important for my wife and children, obviously, but it’s more fun if I can share the activity with the family.

post-ski appetizer with my mom

In the end, they all did very well. And they had tons of fun. In fact they were eager to return the next morning as well. As it worked out, we didn’t. Kinaya had a migraine during the night (something that often happens after she does a lot of exercise) and I also wanted to maximize my time with my parents. But I was so glad they enjoyed it and are keen to go again next chance they get. 

brainwashing children to root for your alma mater

* * *

Boise

Normally when we are in Idaho, we head north at some point to spend time with family up there have fun in the mountains. Given that we had less than seven days, it just wasn’t feasible. We would thus split our time between Kimberly and Boise.

I last lived in Boise about 37 years ago. The city now has little in common with the city that I lived in then. Some of the growth has been good. Some of it hasn’t. Fertile farmland has been swallowed up by strip malls and houses that all look basically the same. The growth seems to be coming faster than city planners can deal with. Depending on where you’re going, you can be faced with an endless string of annoying stoplights to get from A to B. There is a shortage of limited-access roads, parkways, etc., particularly on the western side of the city where the former country road grid isn’t capable of absorbing urban traffic. Newer areas also seem to be devoid of green spaces. Sadly, capitalism lends itself less to public good and more to private interest.

* * *

After spending a few days with my parents, we were off to the capital. There were rumors of storms brewing in various parts of the western US. To be honest, I hadn’t been tracking the weather since we arrived in the US. I’m not sure why. I often do in so far as it affects driving, running, skiing, etc. This time, the most I would do is check the temperature before I walked out the door. Clearly humans absorb more information than they need in some ways, not enough in others.

We had snow over the full hour and forty-five minute-drive. Even though Boise is lower in altitude, snow was beginning to accumulate. As we emerged from the car, it seemed magical with large flakes falling gently and the fresh white powder all around us. Before we even hauled our bags into the house, we joined in with my sister to begin playing.

Most people would find the setting magical, but for us, living in Africa, this sort of thing is even more special. As is our wont, we quickly set about making a snow sculpture of some kind. Sculpture is probably too strong of a term for what we ended up with. We began by aiming for the shape of a dragon (a nod to a theme in some books that our girls are reading). A few obstacles got in our way. One was a lack of talent. The second was that the snow stopped falling and our source material began to dwindle. The third was that the temperature began to increase and our poor dragon’s head had difficulty staying on its body. Eventually, the project was abandoned and we opted for the great indoors and a hot cup of tea.

* * *

As I mentioned, we didn’t have a great deal of time in Boise. We did fit in a couple of dinners with family. We ran errands and did our pre-travel shopping. 

sporting goods stores in the US are on another level

Soon it was time to return to Kenya. With all the travel, two weeks is rather short. But it’s better than not going at all. In some families, time with family is stressful. For me, it is grounding. It’s just the travel that can be stressful. The good news is that the travel back to Kenya wasn’t noteworthy. We made our connections and the bags all arrived intact. Mission accomplished.