Boise is a fine town for getting sweetened up.
Start at The Chocolate Bar, a stone’s throw from the Capitol, a hundred bucks worth of the most supreme cocoa confections known to mankind, maybe enough to keep me sweetened through the day.
Then move on to Goody’s (an old fashioned ice cream parlor in North End’s Hyde Park neighborhood) for a sundae.
If that doesn’t do it, nothing will.
So you might as well have a cocktail.
For this I recommend Chandler’s and their Vesper Reconsidered, the perfect sunset prayer for an unsweetened soul. (Remembering Mel Weddle, a sweet soul who loved a good Vesper.)
But I’m still not sweet enough.
Because my pet peeve this road trip is the current state of “high-end” hotels.
I’ve stayed in four over the past eight nights and the bottom line is this: They charge more and provide less, making up for lost profits by taking Covid losses out on the consumer. Services are short-circuited, shortcuts taken, “resort fees” added—and DIY baggage delivery. (“The trolleys are over there.”)
Hotel 43 in Boise goes a step further: Still open for biz without a forecourt or a lobby. Guests must enter and exit through a parking garage. No forewarning, no discount for disruption. The sliding shower door was broken and their bottom bed sheets kept getting unmade during the night.
Most Americans do not realize that the standard of living in this country has depreciated, infrastructure has crumbled and proper maintenance no longer exists.
Just travel to Europe or Asia and you will discover that the USA is well below modern standards and has already become a third-world country. Our politicians have much to answer for.
But back to Boise.
The artsy Bodo neighborhood is very nice.
And the open air art museum, very cool…
But the natives have grown weary of seeing California plates, exiles arriving in droves and pushing prices sky high.
I was thinking of moving here.
But upon revisiting, I think not.