couch surfing

Rather than on a couch, actually, I spent Thursday night on climbing crash pads in the gear room at the house of a friend of a friend of a friend. Got a brief look at SLC, but I didnt want to waste time walking around. I drove to the Temple Square Friday morning after a nice breakfast out at a place called Eggs in the City. It was surrounded by a high wall, looked unwelcoming. So I didnt park or go in.
Friday I drove to Boise and had a nice evening with Kathryn. We went to dinner at a restaurant called Bardenay, where they also distill their own liquor. It was a neat atmosphere, with a big copper distillery thing and lots of handsome waiters. Afterwards, we saw Death at a Funeral at the local movie theatre. Very funny English flick. Highly recommend it! Saturday morning while Kathryn had a class at Boise State, Blake took me out on his sweet new motorcycle to Big City Cafe where we had a great breakfast. I had Belgian waffles with honey, yogurt, raisins, and granola on them; an unlikely but delicious combination. Later, the three of us hung around the house for a few hours, listening to music and catching up. Blake went to work and Kathryn and I threw our bikes in the back of the truck and drove to a really nice park, where we mounted the bikes and rode along the Green Belt, a paved bike path that follows the Boise River. That night, we showered and got dressed up pretty to go to dinner where Blake is a server. We sat in his section, of course, and he pampered us with a four-course steak dinner at his expense. He served us delicious appetizers and salads, expensive wines and fantastic steaks. We ordered berries napoleon for dessert and he brought a caramel creme brulee in addition! We were so full we could barely get out of our seats! Our leftovers were actually our dinner tonight as well.
This morning Kathryn, Blake, and two of Kathryn's Boise friends and I went to brunch at another fancy shmancy restaurant. I feel like a princess with their star treatment! We gorged on the brunch buffet and then drove back to the same park where we rode bikes. We dropped off a car there and drove to another park about 5 miles away. There, we inflated tractor inner tubes and floated down the Boise River for over 2 hours. It was relaxing, and exciting when we had to go over little rapids and baby waterfalls. There were hundreds of people doing the same thing, on rafts and tubes of all shapes and sizes. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. The river was cold, but not unbearably so. We had our bottoms in the water the whole time because we were in tubes instead of rafts. It really was a great day. Now Kathryn and I are planning to have dessert out in town somewhere since all of our leftovers are gone. (There were no dessert leftovers because of course we found our appetites again once dessert arrived!) Tomorrow is Labor Day, we will grill out for lunch before Blake has to work again. Other than that, we havent made plans for the day yet. But Tuesday I get back on the road, so we'll have some sort of a last hurrah for this visit I'm sure.