In Boise to See Josie

 Josh's cousin Josie got married over the July 4th weekend in Oregon at the Batz family reunion, and they had a wedding reception in Boise the following weekend for friends to join in their celebration. Josh and I drove down to Boise on the morning of Saturday the 9th, and made it to her reception towards the end of the party. It was held at a community event center, and there were lots of food and drinks and music for dancing. Josh and I loved seeing Josie and meeting her husband Christian and their cute daughter Ava. Heidi and her kids were there, as well as Aunt Jane, and we had a nice time chatting with them. 

We went to the Meridian temple after the reception. It was the first temple session we've done in 3 years since the pandemic began! We never went when there were restrictions in effect. There were a few changes in the ceremony, but other than that, everything was the same and it was quite lovely to be back inside the temple walls mask-free! It was very peaceful and I enjoyed the session very much. 

We went over to visit Ryan and Heidi at their house after we got out of the temple, and spent some time in their back yard, eating some food, and hanging out with their kids. Josh even jumped on the trampoline with Ryan and his young son Reuben, which was so fun to watch!

We drove to our camping spot for the night at Givens Hot Springs, south of Nampa. It was so cool to drive through the vineyards in southwest Idaho that I've never seen before. Josh hadn't been on the road to Marsing, either; it was a lovely drive! We got to Givens about a half hour before closing time, and soaked in the main indoor pool. After the pool closed, we set up our tent on the grass behind the pool under some trees to camp for the night. There was a storm that blew through that night, and I kept thinking the branches over our head would snap and crash through our tent, but they didn't. However, I didn't sleep good as a result. 

The next morning we drove past Melba, and through the southwest end of Boise, because we wanted to see different roads. There was a long, straight stretch south of the airport where all the posts for many miles had upside-down shoes and boots resting on them. It was so unique! Our next destination was Idaho City. We ate lunch there at a cute restaurant with outdoor seating, and we walked around the small town and did some souvenir shopping--I bought a hot air balloon puzzle from a cute games store.  

We had a reservation that afternoon at "The Springs", a hot springs resort in Idaho City. We hadn't been there before, but I've wanted to for a few years. I was glad to finally be able to get a reservation--every other time I'd tried, they were full. We reserved a private pool to ourselves, and got to soak for over an hour. It was glorious, and we enjoyed our time soaking immensely. This resort was absolutely beautiful, and their service is top-notch. I would definitely recommend it to others. 

The large warm pool has a hot tub on the left side, and 4 
private hot tubs are in the small, rounded buildings on the right.

Waiting pool-side for our private tub soaking time to start.

Our private tub room was so picturesque, opening up to the 
secluded, plant-covered hillside behind it. 

Following our soak, we drove back to Salmon, continuing through Lowman and Stanley. It was a magical overnight getaway: we had family time, temple time, hot-tub soaking, and pleasant driving! I just love these little adventurous getaways with Josh!