Before we leave Temple Square and the elms let me show you this one…John Constable, English, “Study of the Trunk of an Elm Tree,” oil, 1821….the fun of a resident art historian is that while one is in a reverie about the elms of one’s childhood, R is immediately struck with the similarity of the big elms to a Constable painting and has located it on Google and sent me the image…before we even get back to the car…
So off to Boise, familiar territory for the first time in days. Our plan is to stay in Boise for two nights in order to see the Museum and have dinner with R’s brother Chris and his wife Dianna. We have also booked a motel that we’re looking forward to. So we head due north, me reading the next chapter aloud…
So this part sounds like an ad for the Modern Hotel, but this place captivated our imagination, provided us with real comfort and respite, and two wonderful dinners.
It used to be a Travelodge Motel right downtown and was abandoned…
But Boise is in a boom phase, buildings going up everywhere, hip restaurants, etc etc. So a couple bought the old motel and “did it up”…and we loved it…here was our unit in the 1960’s (bottom left), and now…
a great bathroom
the comfiest bed of the whole trip, and wifi…so we could catch up with friends and family…
a really wonderful restaurant…
lamb chops…(the owners are Basque)
breeze blocks,
homemade yogurt for breakfast…
great coffee in the morning and a place to sit and have it (with R’s brother Chris who joined us…)
We headed to the Boise Art Museum (they don’t allow photos…sorry…great Rick Bartow show there) and out to lunch (all meals become drawing opportunities…)
and after checking the back of the motel
we headed home…
back into Oregon…
land of no cell-phone connectivity, vast spaces and unusual accommodations…
the Oasis…we bought some peanuts and bottled water….ahem….
Coffee break in Sisters…
across the mountains…
and down into Salem…
just in time for a neighborhood meeting on the subject of urban renewal…
and then home by the fire…happy to be here, home at last.
On The Way 
Hi Bonnie, Is R familiar with the exhibition Constable – Le Choix de Lucian Freud which was held at the Grand Palais, Paris in 2003? Lucien Freud created an etching based on Constable’s Study for the trunk of an elm tree, especially for this exhibit. I have the book of the interview with Freud about this exhibit if you or R would like to see it. Poppy
We’d love to see this..I’ll FB message you…
What a lovely trip – and what a luxury to be able to experience art history as influenced by one’s travels!
thanks Ruth…it was a great trip…ready to go again!
Home Sweet Home is so much sweeter when one has been OTR. That Constable painting is wonderful! How many miles total did you put on the car?
San…3500 miles beginning to end…a lot for us!
The elm tree painting is wonderful! Nice to see old abandoned buildings put back into lovely working condition again. You have recorded some more great memories.
Oh Deb we like these memories…and the motel totally hit an imaginative spot…we have an old Travelodge in our neighborhood that would make a terrific version of the Modern!