Difficult

We took a drive today. We covered a good deal of ground in the southern portion of Ada County and northern portion of Owyhee County. We saw some very beautiful country and got a little local culture. There really is nothing like watching people shoot rifles out of their pick-up truck.

This was all very nice, but probably not worthy of a posting here. However, we also visited a nature trail. Well, that's at least about as close as I can come to describing it with a phrase from the common vernacular. I believe it described itself as a "faith adventure", but that doesn't really do it justice either. In fact, I don't know that I'll really be able to do the experience justice with words alone. It's quite possible that the only way to really understand what I'm talking about (and that's not to say that you'll understand the "nature trail" itself, because I've been there and I don't think I really understand it) is to actually visit the place. I will however briefly attempt to describe it, and then I'll provide directions for getting there.

As I mentioned before, the place is akin to a nature trail. It begins very near the Snake River, winds along its banks for a few hundred yards, and then takes a jog toward the sagebrush covered hills to the north of the river. It then loops back along the bottom of the hill to where it began. In total it is perhaps a mile long. This is where its similarities to anything I've ever seen before end. As I also mentioned before, the area describes itself as a faith adventure, and it definitely has a theme based in fundamental Christianity, but there is so much to it that has nothing at all to do with...well with anything I could understand.

Placed along the trail are what I can only describe as exhibits, like something you might encounter in a museum. But these were unlike any exhibit in any museum. There is one with statues of zoo animals, one with bronze sculptures of children playing baseball with other bronze statues standing around, though it's clear that the other statues were not designed to be included with the baseball players. Another has a group of plaster birds standing around a sign that says "Bird Sanctuary". Further down the path is a bench you can share with Mark Twain, which shares space with small, beige, statues of boys and girls carrying very large, colored, shiny spheres and has you looking out over the river. The trail then moves through an "enchanted forest", complete with little metal deer, gargoyles, dwarves, a bridge that doesn't cross anything and that you don't have to walk over, but which of course houses a troll. The enchanted forest then ends at the foothills, and the trail begins to work its way back toward the beginning of the trail. This portion of the trail is where the Christian theme comes out...though it is certainly not the only theme, as evidenced by the bronze buck with a sign behind it that says, "I have come out of the forest so that you may see how beautiful I am", and of course the somewhat commonplace at this point beige children with their awkward looking spheres. There are three crosses visible on the hill above the trail, as well as a very large, synthetic rainbow a little higher up, symbolizing God's promise not to destroy the earth by water again. There are also displays for the resurrection, a chapel open for prayer, and a display with the theme of Jesus as the shepherd. The trail then ends where it began. However, now you see that there are animal pens here containing pigs and chickens...and peacocks running loose around the various buildings. All along the path are dozens of little bird houses on posts with different themes and little placards attached to the posts with phrases meant to encourage and inspire. These placards display such things as "Isn't it a great day?" or "Awake, alert, alive!" or "God answers prayer" and dozens of others...some which make slightly less sense, like "Exercise to the forefront".

This is of course a completely private enterprise, built simply for people to come and experience. It is completely outfitted with lights along the entire trail so people may visit at night if they like. It is also without a doubt the strangest walk I have ever taken.

To visit, take highway 45 south from Nampa, ID. Just before the road crosses the Snake River you'll notice a gas station on your left. Turn as if going into this gas station, but just before you reach the pumps you'll notice a little road to the right going down toward the water. This will lead you to a museum about the ferry crossing that used to exist at that place, and to your left you will find the area about which I have spoken.

As a side note, I would like to say that I have found the Olympic event of Ice Dancing the most humorous of the games. Not that the actual event itself is all that funny (it actually looks very tough and combines two activities for which I have zero ability), but between the outfits and the commentary, I've gotten several good chuckles. The outfits of the Italian team have been especially brilliant, with the pink v-neck taking the award for "Most Unlike an Athletic Uniform In the History of Sport". The commentary has included such phrases as "romance in their bodies", "pleasing to the eye without arresting it", and "extremely pleasurable to watch"...all of which I would love to seen incorporated into Monday Night Football at some point in the coming year.