Great Weekend Finds in Boise

Last month my boyfriend and I caught the last flight from Portland to Boise for a quick weekend getaway. Two of our friends-since-grade-school moved there after college and several others were flying/driving into town for a mini reunion.

The weekend officially began on Saturday morning with a stop at a local coffee shop called Flying M. Flying M is a laid back coffee shop in downtown Boise that I immediately fell in love with. I’m not a regular coffee drinker but I love a good coffee shop. Flying M, like many other coffee shops, rocks alternative music and features a rotating lineup of local artists. But there’s a few things that set Flying M apart from your everyday coffee shop. The first thing I noticed was something called an art-o-mat. An art-o-mat is a unique invention that gives retired cigarette vending machines a new chance at life. These old (and oftentimes banned) vending machines have been refurbished to vend mini works of art from water paintings to bronze sculptures.  In addition to the art-o-mat, Flying M has a small corner shop filled with funky, hard-to-find gifts that one yelper described as “things you don’t really need to buy but have to buy because they’re so super awesome.” Neither my friend nor I left the gift shop empty-handed so I must say I’d have to agree with said yelper.

After enjoying a coffee (for my friend) and a spicy chai tea (for me), we picked up the rest of our crew from the airport.  We immediately made our way downtown to the Capital City Public Market in search of some local produce. Coming from a city that frequently tops “America’s Best Farmers Market” lists, I wasn’t sure what to expect of this farmer’s market. But I was pleasantly surprised to find a large, well-organized market (much larger than I expected) filled with lively customers. Upon entering the market, we were quickly distracted by wine tastings, fresh squeezed lemonade, and stands filled with unique gifts like recycled beer bottle glasses and floating pond decorations. Despite all the distractions we were able to find some local spinach to pair with our freshly baked bread from Alpicella Baking.

We browsed the market until they started shutting things down for the day. The weather was so beautiful that we decided to stop for lunch on the patio at Bittercreek – a wonderful little ale house that focuses it’s energy on locally sourced food and northwest brews. Browsing through the drink menu, we recognized a number of Oregon brews on the menu (and even a few wines) that we’ve come to know and love. We spent the rest of the day catching up over drinks and spinach artichoke dip from our farmer’s market find.

If you find yourself in Boise, be sure to check out these great weekend finds!