July 4, 2016

 

Animal sightings since Stillwater:

Buffalo

Grizzly bear and cub

Mountain goat

Big horn sheep (wandering the campground)

Osprey

Some type of hawk

Moose

Elk

Mule deer

Ground squirrels

Marmot

Yellow finch

Plover

 

Independence Day and we left the Grand Tetons this morning and are now driving across Idaho heading toward Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. Although I admit missing out on the 4^th of July parade and I have a hankering to see some fireworks, Independence Day is kind of a funny thought when this country already belonged to many nations prior to the arrival of Europeans. It is not their Independence Day but only sealed the fate of whole cultures being moved from their lands to inhabit less abundant and sometimes hostile land. Living in a mostly urban area, I’m not very exposed to Native American culture or presence, but driving through the northern parts of Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and now Idaho, the Native American presence is palpable.

 

Driving across Idaho is much like driving across northern Montana—flat, scrubby land, but much more dry and desert-like than the plains of Montana. Because there is nothing out here, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is headquartered here and is home to nuclear fuel research, training the military on radiation emergencies, and the mitigation of radiation fallout. Our curiosity got the best of us—we just couldn’t resist, so we stopped at the EBR-1 Atomic Museum, home of the first nuclear reactor in the United States—the first one that is to create a sustainable source of energy (it is run by INL).   Learning about the science and mechanics of producing nuclear fuel was fascinating and the museum was filled with propaganda about the merits of nuclear energy—all stuff on which a Hollywood conspiracy movie would thrive.

 

Just left Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve and it was really, really cool—forget what I said about Yellowstone being otherworldly, this place is truly otherworldly! The lava looks like a giant paint brush used thick oil paints of greys and blacks with hints of reds, yellows, and oranges, to form textures and swirls and chunks of paint that cover a canvas for miles and miles. The best part is that the artist came back and splattered the canvas with wild flowers and crazy, twisted trees that use the wind to shape themselves into skeletons looking out over the craters. Craters of the Moon was formed by the Great Rift volcanic rift zone shifting and causing crustal fractures that spewed lava from volcanic cones, starting about 12,000 years ago with the latest eruption 2000 years ago, it is a vast expanse of every type of lava flow. Benjamin and I hiked through two caves formed by the cooling of lava tubes, one of which formed a tunnel over 800 feet long, where the Shoshone nation build circled rock formations, which they used along with the tunnel for sacred ceremonies.

 

It is amazing how diverse the U.S. is—we are driving through scrub foothills on our north and lava flow fields on our south. Photos are posted on Instagram and Facebook.

 

At one of our bathroom stops, a little gas station in a little town in Idaho, which I can not remember the name of, there was a one person family bathroom for everyone to use. As expected, there was a line up of 8 to 10 people impatiently waiting to empty their bladders after long drives across the Idaho desert, and of course, the restroom was occupied. As we waited and waited for upwards of 10 minutes or so and no one materialized from the little bath, the boy of about 8 years old standing behind me asked me, “She is taking a long time, what do you think she is doing in there?” I simply said, “Yes, she is taking a long time isn’t she?” After I used the bathroom, the little astute boy said to me as I was exiting, “That was much faster!” Kids are great!

 

Just stopped in a sweet little town, Shoshone, Idaho, which is the county seat of Jackson County, Idaho. We went into the local Sinclair (big green dinosaur) gas station to get cold drinks and use the restroom and discovered that it is thriving little Mexican market run by two bi-lingual Mexican women who talked with Ernesto alternating English and Spanish, and we bought local tortilla chips and jalapeno potato chips (I needed something salty and what is better on a road trip than a bag of chips!). I am always surprised to see Mexican families out in the middle of nowhere and Ernesto always tells me, “Julie, there are Mexicans everywhere!” And not just are they everywhere, they are industrious, hard-working entrepreneurs.   I heard a recent story on NPR about how Latino families are revitalizing small towns across American by moving in and starting downtown businesses and filling the schools with hard-working children. It will be interesting to see if they stay or if they will follow the pattern of white flight to the cities as the children grow and attend college or get jobs elsewhere.

 

Oh, this was the best part—there was a pretty little Episcopal Church called Christ Episcopal established in 1889 right across the street from the county seat courthouse. Every small town we’ve driven through has had a JCLDS church, which is to be expected, so I was pleasantly surprised to see an Episcopal Church. Dreamer spent time chasing a stick on the lawn of the county courthouse, and as we were leaving town I saw a universal sight—two boys, eight years old or so sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk both staring into devices while rapidly moving their thumbs!

 

We’re spending the night in Boise then heading to Crater Lake tomorrow…