Craters of the Moon
Lava tube caves in Craters of the Moon National Monument
Number hill - Arco, Idaho
We had NO IDEA that Craters of the Moon National Monument even existed until we started to plan our trip. We looked on the map to see what National Park sights would be along our way and discovered it. We didn’t have much expectation about it but we loved it so much. Evan did an initial scout of the park after we arrived in Arco for the night and came back talking about how crazy it was. Arco is an interesting little town in Idaho. There isn’t much there outside of the park but it’s was first town powered by Atomic energy and it has restaurant called Pickle’s that doesn’t really sell pickles. It also has “number hill” where high school seniors have added their graduating classes year to the side of the mountain every year since 1929. When you drive into town, however, you don’t necessarily know that story and it’s just kind of strange.
Lava tube caves in Craters of the Moon National Monument
Black Sand hill in Craters of the Moon National Monument
An abandoned house just outside Arco as a storm rolls in.
On a not so strange note, our campground, the KOA, offered free HUGE waffles every morning at 9:00 so we made sure to hit those up before enjoying the day at the park on Saturday. We walked our full bellies through the black rock and climbed through caves made by flowing lava (no lava there now, don’t worry). The kids loved the caves and tunnels and were so amazed at what they were seeing. It was one of the craziest looking places we have ever been. It really looks like you are on the moon… not that I’ve been to the moon but you know what I mean. Gray and Kyrie became “Lunar” Rangers this time after they climbed a black mountain and ran who knows how far between all the rock. We even took advantage of the obscure scenery for a little photo shoot before we left.
...This just in: we (me) are awkward on the other side of the camera!...
All in all, it was a really fun park that we are so glad we experienced. More people need to check out the moon! Side note: the astronauts went to the park before they went to the actual moon to do some training in the craters. So nifty!
