Fly Me To The Moon

We depart Ketchum early and head north.  Destination - Les Schwab tire store, Idaho Falls.  It's a leisurely drive since nothing in this part of the country is open on Sunday.  The flat, sage high desert spreads out around us, dotted with lush grain fields irrigated with abandon.  Startling use of water.

We enter the boundaries of Crater of the Moon National monument, and eerie black formations begin to dominate the desert.  It all began 15 million years ago when cataclysmic eruptions spewed lava. Pressure heaved the land, creating fault-block mountains.  The Monument encompasses 1117 square miles of desolate formations.  Thank you Presidents Coolidge and Clinton for preserving and expanding the monument.

Plant communities have taken a fragile hold.  

We walk through Devil's Orchard and it's spooky landscape of knarled trees and lava structures.

The opportunities for hiking, cave exploration, and the excellent interpretive and conservation work by National Parks make it a great destination, as evidenced by the families crowded into the Visitors Center.

We don't spend nearly enough time here, but we do pin SLO on the visitors map in the breezeway.  The wind is really blowing, so we don't try to set up the Chalet for lunch (we know someone whose Chalet was totaled when the roof was torn up by wind as they raised it).  Instead, I crawl in and get food from the fridge.

Our next stop is Arco, Idaho to snap this picture of the mountain that frames the bleak downtown. "Numbers Hill" has been graffitied by every Senior class since 1902.  Arco was originally known as Root Hog, renamed Junction, and then finally named for Georg Von Arco, a German radio transmission pioneer who was visiting the US at the time.  This was prescient as in 1955 Arco would become the first town in the world to be lit by electricity generated by nuclear power.  In 1961 a nearby reactor melted down, killing 3 servicemen.  We skipped the nunclear energy museum to the north.  There are vast holdings near Arco run by idaho National Laboratory.  I wonder if the sad state of tiny Arco is any sort of omen for nuclear power.

We arrive at Snake River RV Park, tucked in near these towering silos. 

it is a pleasant and friendly little park.  The owner leads us to our site driving his golf cart and gives me kindly and efficient backing instructions.  

We hop on our bikes to explore downtown Idaho Falls.  The looming iceberg of the Mormon Temple may explain why nothing is open on Sunday.  Even if the shops were open, there is nothing in this depressed downtown that would lure us in.  The falls are pretty, and the green space walk is popular with strolling families.  There are prosperous shopping centers on the edges of this town of 56,000, so the downtown may not be indicative of the town's health.

We finally find that the MacKenzie Grill is open and showing the Women's World Cup final game between the USA and Japan.  We join a small group of tables cheering the US team in their astounding game.  3 goals in the first minutes of the game!  Great beer selection, big screen and fans.  We are finally glad to be in idaho Falls.

Refreshed by the big win, we return to our bikes to find Ben has a flat.  What is it with his tire luck?  Pump and ride, then repeat several times.  Back at the Chalet it has begun to sprinkle.  Our first rain.

Ben manages to grill our dinner of Copper River salmon and asparagus with rain dripping from his hat brim.  Add awning to camper wish-list.  We are snug inside, hooked up to electricity to charge up our devices, and with free flowing water.  RV parks do have some amenities - and hot showers!