Idaho....Farther Along

Idaho has been beautiful but the puppers and I are ready to explore a little of Oregon now.   Yesterday's drive through the Sawtooth Mountains, up and down grades and along winding roads was breath taking.  Then again I can only drive those roads so long before I crave a nice double wide highway for a few hours.   The temperatures changed dramatically as we came down out of the mountains, too.  After a stop at Costco and Camping World near Boise, I was ready to find a campground with electric this time and plug in to take advantage of a little AC.  Mitch ran up ahead yesterday to deal with some battery issues and found her own campground.  By the time I got out of Camping Would I stopped at the first one on down the road. I do now have the addictive Popcorn Costco sells some fresh shrimp. Well, I have what shrimp is left over from yesterday evening. Shrimp and popcorn. It worked for me!

  But back in the mountains there was Dutch oven cooking and more balanced meals offered. Mitch has the neatest small DO for two.   Worked very well and if any of you are familiar with Mitch's cooking style, I was forced to take the left overs before they got thrown out.  So I had dinner for two days.  

The site of the cooking master......

Some hiking.

A visit to town for laundry.

After leaving the first National Forest area we drove over to visit the Crater of the Moon.  It definitely looks different.  Standing right behind a lady at the Visitor's Center I also found out that it looks just like the lava flows in Hawaii, except that some of theirs are active at the moment. Knowing this does not mean that I don't want to go to Hawaii and check this information out personally.  Just so you know.

Don't tell me she wouldn't have done the same given an opportunity.  (You will have to check with Mitch to see what she was photographing.)

I liked the Cinder Garden.  The pastel colors of the flowers were so delicate against the dark and rough lava.

Yes, we both climbed this one.  It was hard not to after watching all the young children scamper right up.   

And we did make it to the top after stopping a few times to enjoy the few and breath oxygen.....

The campground, stark as it is continued to fill up throughout the afternoon.  Besides the expected RVs there were many tent campers.  I was hoping that they brought some good sleeping mats.

I told the dogs to think of the stop as a large Walmart parking lot.  They got to walk the campground loop but don't expect to find any grass.  They adjusted.

We then got back on the road the next day in search of more green and mountains!

And we did find both mountains and water.  The Snake River near Stanley, ID.

"Hey, I'm a TN pup. These chilly mountain mornings need a little work," says Abby.

Yes, these are views from the campsite.

We drove around checking the area out and found Stanley lake.  It would have made some fine kayaking very convenient but there might be some discussion if the lake would be worth the broken axle from the potholes in the road getting back to it and whether there were actually two campsites large enough and level enough to fit our rigs.  I'm adventurous but need running equipment to get back to Ohio with.....someday, anyway.

Okay, I am heading towards the Columbia River Valley and will be following the river a bit.  Mitch is heading into the mountains and we meet back up in about a week if the bears don't get her.