Reflections of My Travel

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Not the best day. Woke up to the sound of icy rain on the car. When we got moving, it was so foggy that we couldn’t see much of anything (Randal said that he’s been through Washington twice now and hasn’t gotten to see it yet). Then we get to Oregon. I don’t like Oregon. I’ve been there, crossed it off my list of states unvisited, and never need to go there again. Their welcome sign was the crummiest sign I’ve seen yet (yes, I have been taking pictures of every state sign, with the exception of MS which I apparently did not know how to work the camera well enough to capture it). Looked no different from any other street sign. Then there were crummy little towns that we had to go through. Then we couldn’t even get any road condition information. So finally, after forever, we got out of that state. Idaho had an open visitor center (shock) with a great little book from which we decided Twin Falls would be our destination for the night. It got dark before we got there and there was a very Christmassy house along the way that would have almost rivaled the Osborne light, but of course no place to pull off and take pictures. We got to Twin Falls too late to see anything so we got a hotel and planned for a full day tomorrow.

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We started the day with a heartfelt “today is going to be a good day.” And it was. First, we went to see Shoshone falls. They call it the Niagara of the West because it’s plunge of 212 feet is apparently higher than Niagara’s. It was very pretty but I didn’t really see the comparison. We then went to see the city’s namesake, Twin Falls, but they turned it into a hydroelectric plant so it was pretty disappointing and sad. We then drove to the middle of nowhere to see Balanced Rock. It was pretty interesting, a cone-shaped rock 48 feet tall standing on a 3 foot base. We tried to see Hagerman Fossil Beds but it was closed so we went on to Malad Gorge. What a pretty site! It is right next to the interstate and you cross this little metal footbridge from which you look directly down on the Malad River cascading into the “Devil’s Washbowl” 250 feet below. This was about the prettiest bright aquamarine pool of water I’ve seen. There was a viewpoint on down the gorge where you can look back at the river pouring into the washbowl. Very pretty. Our big stop for the day was the Craters of the Moon. And it was well worth it. I highly recommend it to anyone. Right up there with seeing the Moonbow in Corbin, KY. Over the past 15 thousand years, there have been 8 big volcanic eruptions in that area, leaving a lava field covering 750,000+ acres. The largest lava field in the contiguous US. I has been a little more than 2,000 years since the last eruption, making it overdue for the next. They monitor the seismic activity closely. It was so neat. We hiked to the top of one of the volcanic craters and all we could see was hardened lava in every direction. It was breathtaking. When it got too dark to see anymore there, we drove on to Idaho Falls for the night.

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Another drive day. We got up and drove around town a little. Found a very nice information center where we were able to ascertain some road conditions. We then headed toward Jackson Hole, WY. The roads were covered in snow and ice. I’m glad Randal was driving and seemed to be okay with it because I wouldn’t have made it half a mile. I mostly watched the scenery to avoid worrying about the fact that we were gliding more than driving. And along that road, after 9 days of searching, we found snow. It fell slowly, then harder, then slowed down again, but it was snow! A very good sign for those of us who drove all the way out here to snowmobile in Yellowstone, where there has been a very unusual snow deficiency. We have our fingers crossed that the snow will reach there. Weatherman says Sunday it will dump there but you know how reliable that is. We tried to see the Grand Tetons but it’s a little too foggy out there and I couldn’t even tell there were mountains anywhere in the area. So I missed them. Perhaps tomorrow. But what we did do was go to Kmart and buy two saucer sleds, which we took to Ski King Mountain and sled down a nice hill. WHAT GREAT FUN! We sure need something like that in Florida. It was so great. You go down the hill and lose all control and it’s just great fun! There was another lady and her kid there and they had a straight sled that two people could sit in and they let us use it for a couple of runs. On our third try, we made it all the way down to the front yard of someone’s home at the bottom of the hill before we crashed. It was so great. I could have done it all night long if it weren’t for that hike back up the hill in the snow every time. Couldn’t they put in a lift for us poor sledders? So we came back to our hotel and will be settling down with some popcorn and tv in a little bit. Hopefully we can find a little time in the morning for some more sledding.