story by: Kris Muñoz
photos courtesy Budge Photography
Hello readers, for this month’s publication I decided to write about our own city of Boise, Idaho. I’m doing this with the intention to inform and spread awareness of our city to new comers and other travelers to the area. I’ve been meeting a lot of people who have also just moved here, like myself, or will be moving here very soon. With that in mind, I figured why not talk up my new city and community!
Now before I actually moved here from Arizona, last year, I had visited my two friends who reside in Boise. They have lived here now for about the past 5 years. I first came to visit them in the fall of 2010 I believe. They lived in a their first house, in a different neighborhood at the time, and were still acclimating to the city. I fell in love with all the fall colors from the changing of the tree leaves. Seeing how animal and bike friendly everyone appeared to be was a bit heartwarming, and weird to see.
I only say weird because in my desert city, you had to take for your animal according to the heat of the day. It wasn’t uncommon to see most animals shaved to nothing to help them keep cool during the intensely hot summers.
Certain breeds can’t handle heat well at all, so regardless of their fur considerations, all owners had to be mindful of their animals paws and how hot the pavement or asphalt was. Depending on the time of day, of course.
But the locals I saw didn’t have those same problems in Boise. I remember remarking to my friends at the time how I can’t recall seeing happier animals anywhere. I’ve never seen other dogs and cats playing and mixing so well with each other. Trust me when I say that coyotes and javelinas are not so great at being friendly to neighborhood animals in Arizona.
I believe it was during this same visit that my friends took me to experience the French cook of Le Croq Rogue. My mouth is already startling to salivate just by typing that name again. Some of you remember why too. I must state this now; it was because of this place that I always remembered Boise with a smile. I have never had such a wonderful dining experience before or since. What I instantly fell in love with about this place was the moment you walked in the door, they requested that you turn your cellphones off before being seated. I was caught off guard by this at first, but quickly became appreciative of it.
I have since always followed this practice while eating out. I was happily overwhelmed by the selected menu of the night and was then greeted by the owner and head chef. We had not only the most amazing meal, but we were then entertained by live music and singing from the piano. The musician’s name I can no longer remember, but he was indeed talented and loved his craft. Between great dining company, laughter, and group singing we had the best night out ever! I delightfully remember all of us, including several other dining groups being brought together for a group sing along of “Beauty School Dropout” of all things. It was a truly unforgettable night!
I have visited them during the winter of 2011 and the spring of 2012. Each time I came to visit the season seem to welcome with it’s own unique seasonal traits. I saw some incredible art at various outdoor events and festivals and got to eat at a few other local businesses. Keep in mind that at the time, I have never really experienced seasons before. Where I lived we have long winter months followed by two weeks of spring, then several long hot summer months and finally two weeks of fall. I didn’t grow up seeing the changes of colors from the various flora around me. In the desert, you have various cacti that are various shades of green year round. Also, for some damn reason, palm trees. I never did understand this one, but yes, in desert cities expect to see a multitude of palms that also never change through out the year.
I can remember being introduced to several people and couples who lived here at the time and being asked tons of questions about Arizona and myself. In turn, I asked about Boise and what it was like for them. I got a lot of matching feedback saying how of their previous living locations they found Boise to be the most perfect when it came to climate and season changes. They also shared how some liked or disliked how Boise had a small town feel to it. Each time I came to visit I always discovered something new and interesting about this place.
I never knew of, and still don’t know a lot about the Basque Culture here. I’ve seen the mural and read it’s brief historical notations on the writings in front of it. But again, I’ve only heard of this Basque Culture while I would visit Boise. Now that I’m a resident here, I look forward to seeing their Jaialdi festival and learning more about them. It is my understanding that there is a large populace of Mormons in the city as well. I was raised Catholic and happy to see community of them here as well. I’m very glad there is a sense of spiritual support here in the city, though I don’t personally know how welcoming they are to the LGBT community here. I also never knew that the actor Aaron Paul graduated from here.
Speaking as a huge fan of this man, I would feel sense of pride knowing that John Waters filmed his final scene of “Pink Flamingos” here. That would have been cool to help out as a production assistant on the low-budget set. Who knew that Richard Pryor filmed “Moving” here in 1988. I’m sure there is still much to learn about Boise, and I’m looking forward to it.
Once I graduated College last may, I jumped at the opportunity to move out of the desert by accepting a position within my company. That is what brought me to Boise permanently. Thus far, I haven’t regretted that choice. I’m still getting used to the lack of diversity the city has, but overall, I’m enjoying myself. I must say that my introduction into our LGBT community was less than anticipated.
While I can say I had my best dining experience in this city, I can also say that I have now experienced my worst date of my life. I have never in my life been brought to the point of wanting to punch a complete stranger in the face while cursing him out in public in several of my languages, but I took the high road out of that situation.
I’m not sure if I will ever share the full details of that first, and last, date but I can say I did not base that one bad experience as a catalyst of what was to come from my new community. But it would be my luck that now that I’m a resident of Idaho that Le Croq Rogue would be closed.
Since moving here I have met a great number of people from our community. People have been very friendly and welcoming here to me. These new friends were the ones to point out to me that it’s pronounced “BOI-SEE” and never “BOI-zee”. Just so we can clear that up now. Yes, I now know and can hear the difference. I have never lived in a town where there was not a Wingspan Organization of some kind for the LGBT community. But I have seen the location of the downtown spot and I was thankful for that! I’m used to having multiple resources to turn to for my community, since I have only seen a few since moving here to Boise, I hope that being apart of OutBoise will help in some way to be foundation to bigger and better things for our community. I hope to branch out into other programs that could use some volunteers as well. I am optimistic about my new life here in Boise and look forward to what the future holds. With PRIDE just around the corner, I’m sure it will be fun summer for everyone!
OutBoise News 