Moving Phase 3: Part C - Provo to Boise

We took our time in the morning, enjoying the amenities of the hotel including a hot breakfast and treadmill. We fully utilized the breakfast to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the day. We then jumped on the road headed due north for Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. While heading to Glacier National Park in Montana crossed our minds, the additional driving hours combined with the enormity of the park (it would have taken several days to see) helped sway our decision.

Provo and Salt Lake City are beautifully nestled between two mountain ranges, providing the incredible feeling of being completely surrounded by mountains. North of Salt Lake, the space between two mountain ranges narrows, and then opens up into beautiful countryside. As we continued into Idaho, the mountains continued to spread until we felt like we were in Kansas again.

As we approached Craters of the Moon, we came across many national laboratories such as INL (Idaho National Labs). One particular lab to note is the EBR-1 (Experimental Boiling Reactor 1). It was the very first nuclear power plant in the world, and we were lucky enough to be driving through three days after it opened for the season.

While it is not a completely decommissioned nuclear plant, the structure was still there with plenty of interesting facts and displays. After learning so much about nuclear power plants at MIT, it was really cool to stand in the very first one.

We made that a quick stop and continued on to THE MOON! Upon arrival, we were very surprised by the landscape. The park is where lava bubbled through thin crust (the same thin section of crust that extends down the snake river into Yellowstone National. Park). The land was barren, covered in black rock or cinders with very interesting features all around. There were large hills of cinders and old under ground lava flows that now served nicely as caves for us to explore.

Here were are by the volcano... I'm looking "great" with my eyes closed, but it's the only picture I have of being inside the volcano.

Volcano Rocks!

Our first cave was incredibly dark. I was ready to turn around, but Laura pulled out here camera, took a pictures using the flash, and based on the picture navigated us through the dark to the other end! It was incredible to go spelunking with a camera flash for the light.

As the day grew long, we were once again headed down the road (are you sensing a theme here?). This time, we decided to stop in Boise. At this point, we had seen desert formations, canyons, hills, caves, and volcanoes. We decided that waterfalls would be a good addition to our list of terrain, and lucky enough, the 4^th best waterfall in North America (according to some waterfall enthusiast website that I don’t recall) was directly on our path to Seattle. Next stop, Multnomah Falls along the Columbian River about 30 miles east of Portland, but for now, it was time to sleep.