Grandpa and Mary Ann took me up to Bogus Basin, Boise's nearby ski resort. Only 16 miles from Boise, the lifts are kept busy during most of the year. Unfortunately, the snow had melted in the weeks before I arrived, and the lifts were closed. Still, it's pretty neat to have nice ski slopes so close.

Bogus Basin was over a mile above town. On the way down the winding mountain road there were some incredible views of Boise valley.

On the way back we passed by the old prison. It looked pretty insecure, like you could knock out the bricks without too much trouble. That's probably why they've replaced it and made it into a historical site.

Then it was back home. Grandpa had taken a motorcycle trip through South America and the rest of the USA when he was around my age. When we got back we found part of a story he'd written chronicling his adventures. It was incredible! He traveled with a friend, carrying only a sleeping bag, tire patches, a machete, a Spanish-English translation book, and a change of clothes. At night they would pull over and lay out their sleeping bags on the ground with the machete between them in case poisonous snakes came by. He also showed me a 50,000 word fictional account of the 5th-century-B.C. Greco-Persian wars he'd written at age 19. It was good! He never tried to publish but I think he'd have a shot. I knew I had adventurer blood, but not writer blood. I got inspired and went and did some writing.