Craters of the Moon N.P, by Dan

written by Dan

After an all you can eat pancake breakfast (Dan 6) (Barney 1) (Abigail 2)
(Jimmy 8) (Bree - did not get up in time!), we headed on across Idaho. We stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument. Poor Bree was not feeling the best and lay down on the sofa in the RV, occasionally popping her head up for a quick look, that’s why I am writing this short blog.

Craters of the Moon is a barren area of lava flows, cinder cones (mini volcanoes), and volcanic tubes. This is an arid region, and the meager rainfall is quickly siphoned away through the loose volcanic soil. Historically uninhabited, and unused except for hunting, and trapping. It was called "Craters of the Moon" because, it was imagined that this is what the moon must look like. (Yes I stole that bit from a web page).

As it was a very small place to visit, the kids finished their junior ranger programs and we headed west towards our next town which was Stanley. We had already done a lot miles so we stopped when we noticed a little ranch in the middle of the mountains, so we stayed there the night. It was beautiful and there were still signs that they had a lot snow there, including the hundreds of snowmobiles that were available for hire during the snow season.

The next morning we made our way to Stanley which was a lovely little town that was recommended to us by lots of people. The drives continue to be an amazing part of our trip. Everywhere seems to has such stunning views, and what’s more, they seem to be different. Many days we travel a lot and it makes such a big difference to stay off the big interstates and pick the longer scenic drives.

We are now in Nampa after filling our boots in an all you can eat restaurant and will be heading into Oregon in the morning.

OK not too good at this blogging! Forgot to post it. We have now been in Oregon for a few days and have made our way over to the coast (Newport). From here its straight down the coast Rd to San Francisco . Our first night in Oregon we stayed in the middle of a national forest. When we got there we were the only ones in the whole area, we thought more would turn up but nobody did. It was kinda scary sleeping in the middle of the forest all by ourselves. After a lovely fire we headed off to bed and it was not until the middle of night that we worked out why we were alone. It was COLD. Summer has not turned up in Oregon yet, instead we woke up to snow.
From what I have seen of Newport is a lovely place and we will be checking it out today.

The rest of the Idaho photos are here.