Peace Of The Rock.

As the weather begins to warm up, we're starting to get out and about more. We decided to take a walk in the foothills that were, until recently, covered in snow.

We started at the old penitentiary, which was established in 1868,
expanded in the 1880s, and closed in 1973. The grounds
are now home to the Idaho Botanical Gardens, and host
an outdoor concert series every summer.

In the distance, you can just make out (if you click on the photo)
the snow-covered peaks of the Owyhee mountains, to the south of Boise.
Owyhee, oddly enough, refers to Hawai'i. From Wikipedia:

The name of the river is from the older spelling of "Hawaii".
It was named for three Hawaiian trappers, in the employ
of the North West Company, who were sent to explore
the uncharted river. They failed to return to the rendezvous
near the Boise River and were never seen again.
Due to this the river and its region was named "Owyhee".
About one-third of the men with Donald MacKenzie's
Snake Country Expeditions of 1819-20 were Hawaiians, commonly
called "Kanakas" or "Sandwich Islanders" in those days,
with "Owyhee" being a standard period spelling of the proper
Hawaiian language name for the islands, hawai'i, which
then was otherwise unused in English. The three Kanakas
were detached to trap on the river in 1819 and were
probably killed by Indians that year. It was not until
the spring or early summer of 1820 that MacKenzie learned
the news of their deaths (probably at the hands of men
belonging to a band of Bannocks led by a chief named The Horse).
Indians led other trappers to the site, but only one skeleton was located.
The earliest surviving record of the name is found on a map
dating to 1825, drawn by William Kittson (who was previously
with Donald MacKenzie in 1819-1820, and then with Peter Skene Ogden
in 1825), on which he notes "Owhyhee River" [sic]. Journal
entries in 1826 by Peter Skene Ogden, a fur trapper who led
subsequent Snake Country Expeditions for the Hudson's Bay Company
refer to the river primarily as the "Sandwich Island River",
but also as "S.I. River", "River Owyhee" and "Owyhee River."

Another odd thing about this is that there's some kind of strange affinity between Idaho and Hawai'i even today. No only did John and Emily move here from Maui, but O. and I have noticed that many of the cars here have stickers that mention Hawai'i and there are quite a few Hawaiian restaurants here as well. I guess there's something about a tropical paradise that appeals. Go figure.

The hills around Boise are a dry, dun expanse almost year-round.

We're hoping for a brief efflorescence of greenery in the spring,
but this time of year has its own bleak beauty.

We were especially drawn to the calm power of the weather-worn rocks:

We called this one Frog Rock.

On closer inspection, the vivid hues of the stone and
the many varieties of lichen belie the superficial
colorlessness of the landscape.

(Click the pictures twice to get the full effect.)

It reminded me of a profusion of brilliant corals
blooming on a tropical reef.

P.