Took my first trip down to Boise a few days ago. The drive down there is 477 miles from Bigfork, so for me that would normally be about 7-8 hours. Well, as I have learned, they don't make straight roads in Idaho, it is look me about 9 1/2 hours to get down there. Which for that distance is unconscionable to me. So that means there won't be any whirlwind interstate trips between Boise and Montana. It is gonna be a bitch of a drive with a moving truck, since it is never ending windy ass roads the whole way, and a couple of mountain passes a in 100 degree temps. I am hoping all goes well, but I am guessing it will be even slower going.
The town of Boise was a somewhat pleasant surprise thought. I expected Boise to be this sprawling suburban metropolis baking out on the north side of the Snake River plain. But to my pleasant surprise, the down town area where the campus is located, and I was looking for apartments was well laid out, with some class old town neighborhoods, and a nice downtown area with bars and restaurants.
My apartment search went like most of them do. The place I thought looked great over the net was terrible, and I didn't find the apartment I ended up renting until the morning I left, and it turned out better than any of the others I had viewed. The apartment is actually a 2-story town house off of the main drag, nestled back against a 3-4 million dollar estate in the old part of town.
The place met most of my criteria, in that it was 2 bedroom, 1.5 baths, with a garage, and a carport, relatively close to campus (about 1/2 a mile away). It is a little more than I wanted to spend (700 a month). I really like the neighborhood the place is in, and it has a great proximity to downtown and BSU.
I got my first taste of the geochronology work I am going to be doing down at BSU, and it is very, VERY time intensive. When I get to a point that I am doing dating, I will be spending many many hours in the lab. Just the time it took to get the datable material out of one rock was a solid 20 hours worth of work. It takes about another 2 weeks to do the rest of the preparation for dating. So I think it will be a busy couple of years down at BSU, but I think I will have fun while I am there.
