Scavenger Hunt in Boise: Idaho's Livable Capital and the Basque Block
Boise is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States, a fact that surprises people who haven't been paying attention to the Mountain West's transformation over the past decade. The city has a walkable downtown, an extraordinary cultural anomaly in its Basque Block (the densest concentration of Basque culture outside the Basque Country of Spain and France, a historical quirk with a fascinating explanation), the Boise River Greenbelt running through the city, and the Foothills trail network immediately north of downtown.
A city scavenger hunt in Boise rewards the curious with discoveries that no other city in the Mountain West offers, particularly the Basque heritage that makes Boise's cultural landscape genuinely unique.
Best Areas for a Boise Scavenger Hunt
The Basque Block, the two-block stretch of Grove Street with the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, the Euskal Etxea (Basque Center), Bar Gernika, and Leku Ona restaurant, is the most historically distinctive two blocks in Boise and one of the most historically distinctive in the Mountain West. The Basques came to Idaho in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as sheepherders and settled in Boise, establishing a community so self-sustaining that it maintained its distinct cultural identity for five generations. The scavenger hunt content here is extraordinary.
Downtown Boise and 8th Street, the pedestrian-friendly commercial corridor of 8th Street and the surrounding blocks has the independent restaurants, the Hyde Park area (a historic residential neighborhood north of downtown), and the visual variety of a small city that has invested in its downtown without losing its scale.
Freak Alley, the outdoor gallery in the alley between 8th and 9th Streets in the downtown core, is the largest outdoor mural installation in the Northwest and an excellent scavenger hunt discovery location.
What a Boise Scavenger Hunt Reveals
The Questo city quest in Boise covers the Oregon Trail history (Boise was a significant supply stop on the Oregon Trail, and the ruts of the trail are still visible in the Boise foothills), the gold rush that brought the first settlers to the area in 1862, and the extraordinary Basque immigration story that created the unique cultural institution visible on Grove Street.
The Idaho State Capitol (completed 1920, the only state capitol heated by geothermal energy, the building sits atop a geothermal aquifer) is a beautiful Neoclassical building at the north end of the downtown scavenger hunt area.
Boise Scavenger Hunt Tips
Bar Gernika on the Basque Block serves the best Basque chorizo sandwich and picon punch (the traditional Basque-American cocktail) in the continental United States. The Boise Saturday Farmers Market at 10th and Grove is one of the largest in the Northwest. The Julia Davis Park riverfront (adjacent to downtown) has the Boise Art Museum, the Idaho Historical Museum, and the rose garden in a single walkable complex that complements any downtown Boise scavenger hunt.