Labor Day Fun Minus One

Yesterday, Matt and I decided to go biking on the Greenbelt with the kids. We allowed Josh to go boating with a friend instead, so we went without him. During our ride, we felt the missing piece in our family unit. We thought about family bike rides next year when Chelsea isn't going to be around. Sad thought.

We love, love, love the Boise Greenbelt. We love to run and bike there. For this ride, we started at the fairgrounds/ AA baseball field area. We parked, ate our Subway lunch, slapped a little sunscreen on, unloaded our bikes, and we were off. What an absolute gorgeous day it was. I think the temps were in the low to mid 80s. There were many people out and about on this Labor Day, but it wasn't hard to navigate past them along the way. There were other fellow bikers, runners, walkers, rafters, fishers, picnickers, golfers, park players, and people watchers.

We biked for 10 1/2 miles to Powell's Sweet Shoppe. I had never been there before. What a darling, little candy/gelato shop. I walked in and saw this:



Recognize what it is? An old library card catalog. I had to explain to Chelsea what a card catalog was! Anyway, these drawers had gum in them. Weird gum. Unusually named gum. Gum I've never heard of before. But so fun.

When we walked in, the store was playing the song "Truly Scrumptious". What movie does that go to? I couldn't place it. I don't think it's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Never mind. I just googled it. It is from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. What a delightful, happy song for a candy store.

Look how happy it made Matt to be in this delicious place!



After looking at the gum card catalog, I immediately spotted this wall of black licorice. I know... you either love black licorice or hate it. I love it! I was instantly in heaven and everything else just didn't capture my attention anymore. There were all kinds of black licorice. I wanted to try them all. But after finding out that all of the bulk candy in the store was $8.99 a pound, I decided I wouldn't get to try it all. I started to put little scoops into my plastic bag. The salted licorice was most intriguing. Sweet and salty is always a winner in my book. I also found some honey black licorice in the shape of a beehive. Australian licorice was another one I scooped. Licorice buttons and caramel black licorice were other goodies I put in my bag.



Unfortunately, on the 10 1/2 mile bike ride back to the car, I discovered that the salty black licorice was absolutely disgusting, and it had to be spit out and then dumped out of my bag. After looking at this picture that I took, I think I bought the double salted variety. I'm not sure I would have like the salted money licorice either. They were like little salt pills. I couldn't even wait for the licorice flavor to come through before spitting it out violently.



I think we spent about $18. in Powell's. Yikes. But we sure had some yummy treats. We shared this super sweet sarsparilla.



We love that we have a cool place to go biking here in Boise. There is so much to explore along the river. Our bums were a bit sore after riding 21 miles, but it was certainly worth it. Next time, we'll have our Josh with us so we can feel complete. And next time, I won't get the salted licorice.