It was my own fault: I went through the Boise area on I-84 during the evening rush hour. I naively thought that Boise wasn't really that big, and the interstate goes around the edge of Boise. It was stop-and-go from Mountain Home to Ontario, OR. (Exaggerating a little.)
The highway system makes it hard to avoid these gawd-awful metro areas. I know how to avoid Salt Lake City. I guess a work-around for Boise is needed, as well. At the very least, I will drive through at a better time of the day.
The Snake River plain is ugly. Soon it will be hot. Is a new Phoenix, Las Vegas, or St. George being formed in Idaho? Soon we will be hearing about "droughts" in southwestern Idaho.
What is it about moving to these giant, hot, metro areas in the western states? Aren't these people worried about global warming? Why aren't they moving to Buffalo or Minneapolis?
The continuation of growth in these hell-holes is proof that 'reputation is a lagging indicator.'
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National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest in Weiser, ID June 20-24. If that does not interest you just looking around the old 'downtown' is worth stopping there. A LOT of homes that are on the historic register.
I was thinking about the Weiser/Cambridge BLM area this time. May would be better than June, because the altitudes are pretty low around there.