Stark, beautiful in its own way: Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho

A place where NASA’s Apollo Astronauts came to learn about basic volcanic geology in 1969 as they prepared for their moon missions…how stark can that be? It’s hard to describe and my photography doesn’t do any justice, but then I don’t know if any pictures would do the trick. This is a park that you just want to experience. Walking in lava tubes, seeing landscape covered in lava from the most recent eruption about 2,000 yrs ago, and having a rocky campsite in the park, unprotected from wind, makes this a memorable visit. Add to that our first “ happy hour” with 2 other traveling families with young kids, and we are happy campers. 

"sky light" in the lava tunnels

short bike ride, as it was cold!

On our way here we stopped at the Oregon Trail Interpretative Center – in Baker City, OR – which has done a great job in telling the story of 300,000 people crossing the harsh Oregon Trail from the East in search of a better life, and the Native Americans they met and who lived here way before their arrival. We had to move on, but Tessa could have stayed in this interactive museum for a long time.

Before we know it, we will be melting in the Mexican sun again, so we decided we could gear up for some extra snow/cold, and added Yellowstone to our itinerary before their campsites and roads will be closing around November 2nd (we are getting a lot of mileage out of our $80 annual National Park pass!). Tessa got excited to see the little snow on the deserted campground of Lewis Lake, at altitude of 7,800 feet. More about Yellowstone next time.