Where's Grammie: October 13, 2013

A nice day in Boise Idaho. Weather was great and not too hot. We are now back in Mountain time zone. We decided to do a couple of things in the city today and do it right. We went down to the Julie Davis Park first for a morning walk. When we arrived, there was a City of Trees Marathon underway so there were a lot of people to see.

Love to see the colors are getting brighter.

The Capitol building with the mountains in the background. Boise is a city located in a wide valley.

Such a blend of colors.

Connected to the park, there is a river walkway named the Boise River Greenbelt. We decided this was a good place to take a walk. A short while after we got started, we met another couple out for a morning stroll.

Big Goose, Big Goose, what do you see. I see Grammie looking at me.

Nope, we promise we won't get any closer.

This reminded me that if I were home today, I would have been riding in the Dempsey Challenge in Lewiston Auburn. Thanks to all the people that donated in the past to my funding efforts for Cancer patients. The River Greenbelt includes both sides of the river and spans about 25 miles. What a great place.

There were little kids helping with water for the runners.

In another part of the park there was a Rose Garden. The land for the park was donated by Tom and Julie Davis to the city of Boise.

Beautiful colors so late in the season.

This variety was called Day Breaker.

The roses come in all sizes.

At the other end of the park is the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial.

This is inscribed on one of the many plaques and tablets in the Memorial. In Bergen-Belsen, it is said that birds do not fly there. After visiting Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp for 2 hours in 1987, Tom saw no birds flying.

A marker next to a tree planted by one of Anne's friends.

In the afternoon we decided to go see the World Center for Birds of Prey. It is located on a hilltop overlooking the city and features Birds of Prey, or Raptors, as some call them. The center originally started in 1973 to help save the Peregrine Falcons from extinction. In 1999 they were oficially taken off the endangered list.

A closeup of a Peregrine Falcon through the bars in the cage.They are the fastest bird, and animal. They fly up to 240 miles per hour.

This is a Batelaur Eagle and is around 2 times the size of the falcon.

This is a Peregrine Falcon in a display case. Of all the pictures of birds taken, this is the only one not alive.

A Eurasian Eagle-Owl. Again, a closeup looking through the bars. Normally found in Scandanivia and Russia.

A Gyrfalcon. This is the largest of falcons with a wingspan of 4.5 feet.

The Aplomado Falcon is found in the Southeastern US and Mexico. It is the only falcon left on the endangered list.

My momma told me I was going to be a cutie!

Back outside is the Condor cage. There were 3 in the cage and they seemed to be taking turns flying down from the top of the pole to the ground, then hopping back up on to some rocks and then flying across to the pole again. There was not enough room in the cage for them to be able to fly up from the ground.

One by one, they took turns and got to spread their wings.

There was supposed to be a demonstration of the falcons flying free outside but, it was too windy so that part of the program was cancelled. This is a picture down below the top of the hill towards the city.