We started our day at Craters of the Moon. It's a seven mile drive of 2,000 yr old lava if you want to go around the entire park. Mom and I trecking our way up the Inferno Cone. We are about half way up the cone. In the background you can see, maybe our car but also other's as well.
Somewhat of a cliff behind me. The wind was howling so hard it probably could have just picked me up and thrown me over.
Nice picture of mom and me on the top finally. It was soooo windy up there!
"Is that a park ranger coming up the Inferno?" "Nope just another tourist." 
Walking along side a Spatter Cone.
Brian & Dad thought Craters of the Moon meant something else. (they almost put 
Inside the Indian Cave. (this is a hollowed out lava tube, we just went in one of the tube's.) We saw a few caved in lava tubes that you could once walk in. 
Taking in the wonders of the entrance of the cave.
Dad and Brian going to explore more of the cave. Mom and I stayed behind, we wore sandles to walk around; don't ask why. But it we still got around, it was fun.
This is the end of the dark tunnel they went through! They made it, with no flashlights!
Arco is a very small town about 15-20 min. from Craters of the moon.
(well sign behind us, explains where we are.)
We arrived late for the tour and only self guided tours were left through a pamphlet. That's ok, we had Brian with to expain it. I wish I had only taken a picture of Dad's face trying to understand it and trying to keep up with it. 
The road to EBR1 Test sight. I.N.L land-very desert like. 
Having a relaxing night at a local Baseball game. (Idaho Falls Chukars)
We had a wonderful time on Wednesday and we were so tired afterwards. The weather was gorgeous and hot at times at craters with all the black lava flow around us but we managed. Craters of the moon has a neat facts about it. NASA's Apollo astronauts learned basic geology there in 1969 as they prepared for their moon missions (hence the name). This area is considered a young volcanic flow, it's only 2,000 years old. Underground this is connected with the "mega" volcano that's in Yellowstone National Park (the part of it that's active). Everywhere we walked we saw what looked like sprinkler heads out of the ground, but they are actually detector's for any underground movement.
Walking through the caves was so much fun. It's so dark and creepy. All the caves are "enter at your own risk," there is no tour guide. Bring your own flashlight and watch your step for loose rock. After we spent sometime at Craters, we started to head back home. We stopped at EBR1 which is the first place in history have a Nuclear reactor running and to generate power to a city (Arco). Brian was excited to teach as much as he could to mom and dad and show them what he knows. After the tour, we went drove through Arco and stopped at a restaurant called"Pickles Place." I had to bring dad there, he loves his deep fried pickles. We had a nice meal there for a great price! Then we went home for a quick margarita and then went to the baseball game to end the night. Phew! What a day. (you can click on any of the pics to enlarge them,especially the cave pic, they are neat.)
3 comments:
Sounds like a lot of fun. What is dad going to do with a lava rock? I would laugh if his entire trunk was black by the time they got to Oregon.
It's a neat chunk of rock. Mom wants it in front of the house where you enter to the garage, in that rock area I think. Mom also has some small ones that have a shine to them. They're neat.
This place sounds cool. I would love to check it out someday! I learned all about this stuff in my geology classes.
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