The road less traveled

After our leisurely exit from Yellowstone (the Urbans are not early risers), we tried to make good time towards our goal of seeing Craters of the Moon and sleeping in Boise.  Greg discovered the night before that I had booked the wrong night in Boise and we discovered when calling the hotel that they were all booked up for Tuesday night. So once out of the park, I spent a good hour looking for a new hotel.  It had to meet certain requirements.  We were hoping for a suite, it needed at least 2 queen beds, close to the interstate and not too expensive.  One thing I learned is that you can't really tell what a "suite" is from the descriptions.  Plus they have junior suites and mini suites and regular suites.  I wasn't really sure what I was booking but I finally settled on The Shilo Inn and Suites with a junior suite with 2 queens.  Fingers crossed it would fit the bill for the night!

We crossed into Idaho on Rt. 20.  This was the part of the trip when we'd be off the beaten track (aka off the Interstate) for most of the day.  Rt. 20 follows the Oregon Trail.  We could just picture those travelers year ago seeing the mountains in the distance, knowing they would have to find a way to cross them as the trudged on through all that desert.  What I didn't realize about Idaho and western Oregon is how much of it is desert.  I guess I didn't really think about where it falls, so close to Nevada.  Another thing, we didn't see any potato farms.  What we did see the most of was cattle.  Lots of signs warning of "stock crossing" and "game crossing".  Another thing I didn't know is just how windy Idaho is.  The cross winds on highway 20 were horrible.  At one point it was so bad when I was driving we were barely doing 40 mph.  It was scary at points and I was more than happy to turn the driving back over to Greg after my shift.

We reached Craters of the Moon in late afternoon.  It's a pretty impressive place.  The lava fields go on for miles.  We caught a ranger talk and learned about the different types of lava rocks and spent a bit of time in the visitor center.  All of these parks have a nice selection of books and my kids are often more than happy to grab a book and plop down in a corner to read.  That is what Bella was doing and when I looked at the title she had picked up and  I was pretty shocked to see it was called something like "Sex in a Tent".  Now, I'm not positive what is was actually about, but I made her put it back and took her out of the visitor center at that point.  Not sure that was the most appropriate selection for a national monument bookstore but well who knows what was really in the book, I'm not going to judge.

We decided to do a few of the nature trails in the park.  It was really neat to see all the lava flows and all the plants that call the lava fields home.  I think Kellen was disappointed it's not an active volcano.  I think that is what he is really in his heart of hearts hoping to see on one of these trips.  It was getting late and we still had over 3 hours to go so we hit the road and headed towards Boise.  The wind was not our friend.  It continued to either be a cross or head wind all the way back to the Interstate outside of Boise.

We stopped for dinner at a local pizza joint.  After laying down the law that the kids could not have root beer floats before dinner we got some beers and ordered some dinner.  The restaurant was pretty empty and they were playing 80's music (Bella is a big fan).  The kids, after being cooped up most of the day, decided to start dancing, much to the entertainment of a table of 2 couples next to us.  They seemed to understand after we explained that the kids had been in the RV all day.  They were also pretty in awe of the trip, not the trip but the two crazy adults who are doing the trip with their two kids and they didn't even see our tiny RV.

We got on the interstate and even though we were less than 10 miles outside of Boise we could have been 50.  There was nothing, no lights, no trees, no animals.  It was kind of creepy because we had all these empty hills on either side of us and no "big city" even in the distance.  At about 6 1/2 miles we could finally see the bright lights of Boise.  We reached the hotel and they were sold out of our "junior suite" so we were upgraded to a king with a wall divider and a pull out couch.  We asked for a roll away bed too and went to the room.  The room was nice, big, clean but a bit dated.  The clock radio looked to be circa 1978.  It wasn't quite the 3 room suite of Casper but it would do.


Day 2:

We woke up in Boise and got some breakfast while the kids slept in a bit.  We brought their breakfast back to the room and Bella who was awake and reading in our bed asked: "Is that my breakfast?", not good morning, not hello, typical kid, "what do you have that is for me". We all got showers except Kellen who was dirty enough to need a good soaking in the bath tub and then packed up and hit the road.

We had some maintenance tasks to perform that morning. We found gas, a Bank of America and a Fred Meyer all in the same tenth of a mile.  Fred Meyer's is like a super Wal-Mart. They had food, fine jewelry, clothes, big screen TV's all in the same store.  We needed to make one more stop at Camping World for a few RV supplies.  I would love to have had time to have them look at our fridge, which is officially busted (thankfully we have a container that holds ice to put in it and a cooler), but the schedule is too tight.

Apparently Boise didn't agree with the RV.  As we headed back onto the highway, the RV started to sputter and some service light came on.  After Greg checked a few things, we tentatively got back on the road but not without looking up the closest VW dealer in Boise and Bend.  Whatever the problem, it seemed to go away once we were back on the highway. 

What can I say about this drive?  It was long, it was mountainous, it was windy and the landscape was mostly desert.  We were back on Rt. 20, with views of scrub brush and cattle for most of the day.  The highlight was an afternoon stop in Burns, Oregon and the Broadway Deli.  Greg got a Americano and some amazing berry cobbler(almost as good as Becky Calvert's).  The kids got very chocolatey brownies and I had a bit of both!  We gassed up the RV and headed out for more desert driving way off the beaten path.  At one point, as karma would have it, Greg wanted to stop and close the RV door, which sometimes gets loose on very bumpy roads. Right as he slowed, we crested a hill and there were a 1/2 dozen cows and calfs in the roadway.  We were all thankful he had slowed down and saw them. 


We finally changed ecosystems as we moved into the pine forests closer to Crater Lake.  We went from pine forests, to marshes, to pine forests, to marshes as we made our way west through the national forests. It would have been nice to have more time to stop and take pictures and enjoy the scenery but we still had 2 hours to go to reach our campsite at Crater Lake.  We reached the turn for Crater Lake but needed gas, we stopped at a diner to ask if their are any gas stations and were told we needed to go 10 miles north for gas. So we just added 20 minutes onto the day, in the grand scheme of all our driving, not a big deal. 

We finally reached the north entrance to the park at about 7:30.  This is obviously the less used entrance since it's so far from the lodge and campgrounds.  However, if you are looking for a very dramatic introduction to the park, this is your route.  After going straight south for about 9 miles you basically run right into the Crater and the lake.  The view was breathtaking.  We got out and it was cold, windy and foggy.  You could see the lake but it was definitely shrouded in the fog.  

From there we drove Rim Drive around the crater down to the campground, which is south of the lake.  I’d like to be able to describe the drive but it was too scary and I had to go sit in the back of the RV.  Lots of steep cliffs that began 3 inches from the white line, hair pin turns and very few guard rails.

All of the national park campsites have been great and this was no exception, we checked in and were told to find a campsite with a yellow marking.  We rolled in just as it was getting dark.  Greg and Kellen started a campfire and I made some spaghetti for dinner.  Finally there after 2 long hard days of driving we could relax. Greg and I had some wine and pasta by the fire while the kids ate inside. A little space apart was just the ticket.