Pocatello
We spent Friday night in Pocatello. Emily, Ian, and Rubye came down for some swimming and supper. It was fun cousin time and the kiddo-s enjoyed the pool. We did not get to eat in the gas station Italian place next to the hotel because they did not have another spot large enough to fit all of us. Bummer. Some day I want to sit and eat in this fancy gas station restaurant in Pocatello.
Craters of the Moon
Rubye and family went back to their home in Idaho Falls Friday night. Saturday morning, Nate and I packed up the van while Clara and Henry played in the nature around the hotel. As soon as everything was loaded and the kids had all the fun there was to be had under the tree, we headed to Craters of the Moon. Henry was extremely concerned about going to see "hot lava". He has red books and watched shows about hot lava and knows it is something that you just do not mess with! Friday night I kind of ran the idea of Craters of the Moon by him, thinking he would think it sounded like fun. He adamantly opposed the idea. Tears were involved, so we seriously considered finding something else to do for Saturday. We decided to go ahead and go, but we did not tell him where we were going. As we got closer, we started to explain that the lava was cold and could not hurt him. From then on we all called it cold hot lava, just to clarify to everyone that we were not about to walk into a pit that could incinerate us on the spot.
We hiked up this hill, that I do not remember the technical name for. It was just a dome where the giant volcano pushed up the ground but never burst through. It reminded me of a lava version of the last part of the Stone Mountain hike. It was bald and straight up. There were some amazing views from the top. It was very windy, which I thought felt wonderful, but you could feel the sun burning you up in spite of the wind and Clara was not a fan of the strong wind, so we did not stay very long.
We drove around the loop and stopped at all of the spots that looked mildly family friendly. We saw two spatter cones and a whole lot of cold hot lava. Henry really got into it all and asked several questions about how volcanoes work. I thought these teeny flowers were beautiful and amazing. They manage to grow in such harsh circumstances and they were still beautiful.
Before we left the visitors center, we made sure to obtain a permit for the caves. We basically promised to not bring an East Coast bat disease to the bats that live there. We only went to one cave, but we were able to push the stroller as far as the stairs, where we climbed down into the cave. The caves are really lava tubes that have partially collapsed. That was a crazy amount of lava running through those tubes way back in the day!
That is the hole we climbed down to get into the cave. If we were properly prepared we could have hiked the whole thing, but we were not and it turned out to not be a very Clara friendly place (surprise!). We headed up and out, loaded back up in the car and headed to Twin Falls for supper, swimming, and sleep.
Grandma & Grandpa
Father's Day Sunday was spent visiting my Grandma & Grandpa Dixon. It was great to see them! We usually do not get to stay more than an hour or two, so it was nice to spend more time with them. We talked for a while then had lunch with them. We even got to meet an old student of Grandpas! The kids did fairly well considering the long exciting weekend and that it was nap time. We felt a little like celebrities walking through the retirement home with our adorable children. Everyone watched everything they did and there were constant "ooos" and "awws". I am so grateful that my kids have so many living great-grandparents and that I still have 3 of my grandparents here with us. It was nice to visit with these two and a great way to spend a Father's Day.
