Our second stop (McDonald's being the first) was Craters of the Moon National Monument. This former volcano really does look other-worldly. There are two main kinds of lava. One is called a'a, which is the sharp, painful kind. It is created as it is spewed from the volcano. There is a ton of this kind. The other is created by the river of lava as it flows, and it is a lot more smooth. This is called pahoehoe. Spatter cones are mini-volcanoes that form. We hiked to two of them and looked down. They were pretty deep. Lava tubes are created when the lava that is flowing underground empties out and the walls harden. We hiked to a Lava tube and hiked inside it. It was pretty cool! Both ways!
As we hiked on the rock there were some that sounded hollow as you stepped on them. The pumice is very, very light. I picked up a pretty big boulder over my head, and John held one by one finger. Pretty impressive!
John is leading a charmed life right now. There was a speed limit of 25 which we both missed, and he was going about 40. He was not trying to speed - he was looking for a gas station with a decent price and keeping an eye on me as I drank my soda over his laptop. Not that I'm a klutz or anything. He had the pleasure of another adrenaline rush and warning from the kind officer who stopped us. Whew!
200 miles to Yellowstone - great time to work on my blog in the car. John is talking about maybe seeing Norris Geyser Basin today if we get there early enough. As we drive, we are listening to see what LeBron decides to do. It's exciting. I hope we hear soon.
In the distance we can see the Tetons. It is from a much different perspective than I saw last time I was here. Of course the peaks are beautiful, and there is lots of snow.
We arrived at Yellowstone about 4:00 and we went straight to Artist Paint Pots, and took the short but steep hike to see the mud bubbling and popping. It took a while to drive to our camp site, and we set up camp and ate supper.
Next we went to see Artist’s Point where we saw the Lower Falls. I love waterfalls. We saw our first glimpses of bison and elk. I was so excited! Little did I realize I would soon tire of seeing bison. Next stop was Uncle Tom’s and there were bison walking in the middle of the road causing a roadblock! They were even in the parking lot. We did not do the entire hike but did get far enough to see the Lower Falls.
We made it back in time for the Ranger talk about artists and their role in the making of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone into a National park.
Mosquitoes have been pretty bad, and especially at this ranger talk.
We did not get to hear about LeBron. More Yellowstone tomorrow.
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