Craters Of The Moon
First of all, I owe a huge apology to the state of Idaho.
I always discredited you and wondered who would want to live there?
Do people live there, beside potato farmers?
I know. It’s mean. But when you grow up in Florida and think it’s the greatest state in the world, you wonder why people live anywhere else, especially when it’s freezing half the year and there are no large bodies of water nearby.
But I apologize to all Idahoans.
Your state is beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful.
We weren’t sure if we were going to trek over to Idaho or not, but decided last minute to do it, and we did not choose wrong.
Who has ever been to Craters of the Moon?
Heck, have you even heard of it?
I hadn’t before planning for this trip.
It is an area like none other in the world.
Just lava fields as far as the eye can see.
I tried to understand the science behind it all, and while I get the general idea, I’m still confused.
I seriously need a cartoon showing me how the mountains formed, split apart, and then volcanos covered a 50+ mile range before the hotspot moved west to Yellowstone.
It’s fascinating.
But before I hurt my brain too much, I’ll just enjoy the fact that my kids got to play real life “Floor is Lava,” run up a volcano, and climb through lava tubes.
I didn’t even know there was such a thing as lava tubes!
They’re incredible.
We went on a ranger led walk and learned so much about the different lava flows.
Who knew there were different types of lava flows???
Seriously, we learned so much about geology and plate tectonics and other facts. We all loved Ranger Kyle and left feeling like we had a better understanding of what was happening out here.
Avett asked him tons of questions and Embry was ready to answer almost all of Ranger Kyle’s questions.
I love it when my kids remember things we’ve talked about!
Everything was going swimmingly until Edley took a nasty fall off an elevated walk and landed on a block of lava.
It was terrifying.
Her poor back and arms.
We are so lucky she didn’t fall in a different location with a larger drop. I seriously can’t handle thinking how much worse it could have been.
I held her while the rest of the crew ran to the top of Inferno Cone and back.
At the top, they hugged Fred the Tree, the sole surviving tree at the top of this volcano.
How cute are they?
Though there were lots of tears and we were shaken, Edley was strong and we were able to view the spatter cones and Devil’s Orchard before calling it a day.
If you are ever in Idaho and get the chance to go to Craters of the Moon, we highly recommend it.
And please give Fred the Tree a hug for us!
