Travelogue -- The Washington Coast

After our romp in the ocean at Seaside, OR, we headed north towards Astoria because back in Idaho several people had told us it was really nice. 

Astoria sits on the mouth of the Columbia River. On the other side of the river is Washington State. Astoria's claim to pop culture fame is that it is where Goonies was filmed. Todd and I have never seen Goonies, though, so that doesn't mean much to us.

When we got to Astoria, Todd did an excellent job of parallel parking the Big Rolling Crate in a spot that gave us 2 hours of free parking, and therefore two hours of exploration. The first thing we did was walk along a boardwalk on the river.

This is the view looking out towards where the Columbia flows into the ocean. That big bridge connects Oregon and Washington.

And this is looking upstream. Those boats are massive cargo ships.

There's a trolley that runs along the boardwalk that passed by as we walked. It was pretty neat, but also I was a little afraid of it. We walked to a deck where you could go up a flight of steps to an overlook and Todd had to carry me up there because the steps were the metal-grate variety, which are no good for dogs. Diane took the above pictures from that overlook.

After our walk, I took a nap in the Big Rolling Crate while Diane and Todd had lunch at the Wet Dog Cafe. Todd had the best fish and chips of his life and Diane had a homemade bratwurst sandwich. They came back very happy and gave me a little taste of their leftovers.

Now that everyone was fed and happy, we crossed the big bridge to Washington and drove the Washington Scenic Coastal Byway. We have driven so many scenic byways on this trip! The views are great, by the twists and turns! I'm ready for a straight, flat highway.

We passed a place called "Dismal Gulch," which is a hilarious name for a place, and then we came to another place called "Cape Disappointment," which is a state park and another hilarious name, so we stopped to check it out. It was actually quite beautiful and we never found out why it has such a silly name.

We decided to head to Aberdeen, another place that had been recommended to us, so we continued along the coast, but we initially missed our turn, which led to a detour to "Seaview," a beach on a peninsula called Long Beach. 

It's a beach people drive right up onto, which was a pretty odd site. All down the beach were trucks and jeeps and even some small cars. While I've seen areas on the Cape Cod National Seashore where you can drive onto the beach, the scene in Washington (and Oregon, where you can also drive onto the beach) is much different. On Cape Cod, not many people actually drive on the sand, but here it seems everyone does.

We drove onto the beach in Oregon where the sand was very firm and then we turned around and got out of there before our 10,000 lb truck could settle in. All the way across the country Todd had been joking that he wanted to touch the wheels to the ocean, but he didn't actually do that because even he could see it was a terrible idea.

Anyway, we didn't drive onto the beach in Washington because the sand was very soft. Instead we parked and took a walk and the sun came out and it was very pleasant. As we walked along, Todd accidentally dropped his phone and when he picked it up he got a big surprise. Black grains of sand were stuck to it in a crazy pattern like one of those silly magnetic desk toys.

The sand didn't break his phone. He broke his phone way back in Boulder when he was riding his bike to pick up the Big Rolling Crate from the garage. It's okay, though, because it's an old phone. It was Diane's 3.5 years. When she got a new one before our trip, she put Todd's number on her old one, since his phone had a broken screen. It only took him about 2.5 weeks to break the screen on this one, too, which might be a sign that he shouldn't have a smartphone.

After our walk, we went back to the Big Rolling Crate and took out the jetboil camp stove and tea things and made a cup of afternoon tea in the shade of the Big Rolling Crate. Sitting there, by the side of the road, Diane and Todd were basically an advertisement for ambulance-camping. Everyone who passed by had something to say about our "rig." Generally, they seemed to think it was cool. One guy confessed he's always dreamed of converting an ambulance into a camper, so we gave him a tour and told him all about it.

After tea, we continued on to Aberdeen. When we got there, we wondered why it had been recommended to us. The town seemed a bit down on its luck. We looked on a map and found a beach with the very Massachusetts name of "Cohasset" and realized we could get there just in time for sunset, so that's what we did. 

Even though it was overcast, the sunset was beautiful.

Todd on the dunes taking pictures with his real camera.

The clouds lit up by sunset.

The colors gradually fading.

As we walked back to the car, we saw the craziest animal-washed-up-on-beach ever:

Deer? Moose? Elk? Horse? Couldn't tell you, but this isn't something you see on Cape Cod, that's for sure.

In the growing twilight, we drove back to the Walmart in Aberdeen to crash for the night. It was one of our earliest Walmart arrivals yet, which was nice because we were all tired from our big beach day. When we pulled into the parking lot, we were shocked to see another ambulance-camper! It was the first fellow ambulance-camper we'd seen on our whole trip so we parked right by it in hopes of meeting its owner.

In the morning, Todd did meet its owner, a single guy from California. The back of his had a small sleeping bunk on one side and a bunch of surf boards, windsurfers, and a motorbike in the back. He told Todd he's never going back to California. Apparently he plans to be an ambulance-camping bum forever.

Aberdeen's pop culture claim to fame is that it is the hometown of Kurt Cobain. It seems like just the sort of grungy town to produce a Kurt Cobain. In fact, the Walmart parking lot, we saw a lot of would-be Cobains in plaid flannel shirts. When we pulled into our parking space Friday night, we were surprised when a really beat up old van pulled up between us and a really beat up old pickup truck. A guy got out of the van and popped the hood of the pick up  and started doing to mechanic work that seemed to last until about 2 in the morning and included changing at least two of the wheels on the pickup.

We weren't too sorry to get the heck out of there in the morning.

Travelogue -- Toes in the Pacific Ocean

Thursday, we woke up early at our Oregon Walmart and Todd spotted something he'd been wishing for for weeks: A car wash with a big truck bay. He scrubbed the Big Rolling Crate until it was shiny as new and he vacuumed out the back where it was full of dust and dirt from camping and we got back on the road.

Wednesday night, we couldn't see what the scenery was like in Oregon, but by the light of day we saw that we weren't missing much. Rolling hills of scrubby brush and brownness. Not much to see. For a while. And then, all of a sudden, a huge river in the wasteland: The Mighty Columbia.

While the river was massive, at first, it wasn't all that scenic to tell the truth. The hills were as brown and dull on either side as they'd been before we got to the river. After a little while though we passed a sign that we were entering the "Scenic Columbia River Gorge," and the scenery began to change. The hills were covered in tall pines and wild flowers and they became steeper and more dramatic.

We don't have a lot of pictures since we didn't stop driving, but here's one Diane took from the window as we drove:

The highway goes right along the river for miles and miles. After lunch, Diane drove and Todd did some research to find a nice place to take a walk. He came up with John B. Yeon State park and Elowah Falls. We had some trouble finding the trailhead, and the debate over whose fault that was might never be solved, but in getting lost, we did stumble across these yummy blackberries.

Eventually we found the trail and set off and as we walked, we all realized something: We were back in the land of humidity. Everything was so clammy. For the better part of three weeks we've been in places where the humidity was always about 10-12%. The air was so dry you couldn't drink enough water to keep your mouth from feeling dry. It was hard to get used to, but we finally had, and there were lots of nice things about it: Laundry and towels dry crazy fast, bread never gets moldy, and even though it is hot out, it doesn't feel oppressive. But in the mountains above the Columbia it was more like home--sticky and sort of uncomfortable even though the temperature was only in the low 70s.

The hike was steep but not too hard and it had a pretty big payoff.

This nifty waterfall!

Here are some other pics from our hike:

This was a very steep part of the trail so the path made a hairpin turn.

These trees were completely covered in thick moss.

I got to swim below the waterfall.

After our hike, we got back on the road to Portland, and after a small traffic jam, our first since Chicago!, we made it to that hippie city. We drove around some hip-looking neighborhoods and then crossed the river to downtown. Todd found a perfect parking space on the street for the Big Rolling Crate and we took a walk in a big park. I was kind of scared to be around so many people and dogs, but I always like a walk.

Todd liked this statute of Teddy Roosevelt, which makes sense, because Todd, like that old Rough Rider, believes in "The Strenuous Life."

Our walk took us to a park along the river where Todd and I posed for this picture.

After our walk, I rested while Todd and Diane got some dinner. I was a little disappointed that there were no leftovers for me. They ate frozen yogurt for dinner, which is ridiculous considering that we were in a city full of delicious smells that suggested many real food options were available.

Before we left Portland, Todd studied our trusty old atlas and, based only on its name and proximity to Portland, choose the town of Seaside for our destination. To be honest, until we got there, I didn't fully understand that the Pacific was ocean, and I wasn't sure why it was such a big deal that we get there. I mean, we've been heading west for three weeks going from place to place, mostly mountains, and I liked all of them. Every time I got used to a place, we had to leave it, and I didn't know what could be so special about this Pacific place. And then we arrived. And I understood.

The sand! The surf! The sea breeze! The salt air! I LOVE THE BEACH! 

At first, we when got to Seaside and pulled into a parking lot, I was cranky and tired and hungry and not that interested. Then I got a whiff of that salt air and I was off like a shot towards the water! 

This beach was a lot different from where we go in Maine or where we go on Cape Cod. The sand stretched a long way between where the hotels were and the water. All up and down the beach, people were having bonfires that lit up the twilight and scented the air. It was very peaceful, even though it was kind of cool outside and a little drizzly.

We got a hotel for the night right on the beach and we were all pretty happy campers.

In the morning, we slept in and then Diane did her favorite hotel trick: She asked for a late check out. So far, every time she's asked, she's been given one. Diane and Todd went out for breakfast Andy hen they came back and got me for a big swim.

It wasn't very hot out and it was overcast, but we all agreed, we came all this way, we had to swim. We raced down the sand and through some tide pools and straight into the rising tide. The water was much warmed than it is in Maine at this time of year, much to all of our surprise. We swam and splashed and ran and Diane and Todd laughed at me as I raced the waves and we picked up some sand dollars that had drifted ashore. If only we had more time, we could have passed many happy days here.

Travelogue -- Scenic Idaho, Famous Potatoes

I'm writing this from a hotel near Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. We weren't planning on a hotel tonight. We were planning to be in Missoula, Montana, visiting Diane's college roommate Jeanne. The Big Rolling Crate had other ideas. A few miles from Coeur D'Alene this afternoon, it decided it had had enough and quit. So here we are, at a hotel, and the Big Rolling Crate is 4.5 miles away at the Chevy dealer, who will hopefully be able to fix it tomorrow so we can stay on schedule to make it to Maine by Saturday.

On the upside, Diane and I have time to work on the blog because we haven't made any updates in a whole week and so much has happened!

As we mentioned in our last round of updates, on Monday, July 18, we visited the Craters of the Moon. To be honest, up to that point, we were all sort of wondering if the whole "Scenic Idaho" thing, as the license plates here proclaim, was intended sarcastically. Southern Idaho is kind of ugly. Everything is brown. Brown hills. Brown plains. The towns are tiny (we passed places with populations under 100!). A huge swatch of what we drove through ran along a big fence and a restricted area for some nuclear laboratory, and the most interested geographical features were hideous lava rocks. 

Todd kept saying, "There's a numbered dirt road. We can probably camp up there."

And Diane kept saying, "Why in the world would we want to camp here?"

Nonetheless, we headed towards the big green area on the map where all the National Forests of Idaho begin. We turned off of the main road we'd been traveling towards Sun Valley and the Sawtooth National Forest, and things became scenic pretty quickly actually.

Fun fact courteous of the park ranger we chatted with in the Sawtooths: Sun Valley was the first ski area with a chair lift (as opposed to a tow rope or other sort of lift that runs on the ground), which was commissioned by the owner of the Union Pacific railroad in order to get more people to ride the rails in the winter.

We didn't linger in Sun Valley, though, because it was already getting well on into the evening and we had a campground in mind that was still a ways down the road. We made the long, slow climb up into the National Forests, stopping a few times to prevent overheating, a reality we are totally accustomed to at this point, and then back down into the valley. 

Eventually we came to the Alturus Lake area and found our intended campground, The North Shore Campground, which was a small National Forest campground with a handful of lakefront sites. We got the last spot, and it was perfect.

While we were getting settled for the night, two other campers came over to ask about our "rig," which is what people call campers of all varieties. It was the most curious its we've had directed our way in a campground, but it was the start of a trend that would continue throughout our stay in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. People here are so friendly and they aren't shy about asking questions.

We stayed for two nights at this camp, and the timing could not have been better if we'd planned it. We were here, right on the lake under clear skies, for the full moon.

Diane and Todd have turned into pretty lazy campers by now. When we first began our trip, they were all about taking out the big camp stove and cooking, grinding up coffee by hand, washing the dishes with the solar shower, and all that stuff, but here they used instant coffee, paper plates and disposable utensils, and even dipped into the "emergency meals" to have freeze dried beef stew straight out of a pouch for dinner.

I got to have the leftovers, and let me tell you, they were delicious.

We arrived fairly late Monday night, and we left Wednesday morning, so Tuesday was our only full day in the Sawtooths. In the morning, we went on a lovely hike where we saw beautiful wild flowers and I got to swim in the lake.

Todd took the good pictures of wild flowers with his real camera, which we have not way of getting onto Diane's iPad for the blog right now, so you'll have to settle for this one:

The water in the lake was icy cold because we were up at an elevation of about 7,400 feet. It was also as clear and blue as can be, and I loved it.

I was pretty worn out from all our recent activities, so in the afternoon I took a nap while Diane and Todd rode their bikes a mile or so down the road to a swimming beach that a park ranger had said was nice because the water there was "warmer." Warmer, of course, is a relative term. Diane says the water was as cold as the ocean in Maine in May. Todd managed to get all the way in and swim a little, but Diane never got more than knee deep.

On Wednesday morning, after instant coffee and another fight with the bikes, which really do not like being strapped to the back of the Big Rolling Crate, we headed through the forest toward Boise. As we drove, Todd realized that we had driven into such a remote area that there was not one single radio station on the FM dial. He was really happy about that because his whole goal on this trip was to get far from civilization.

We made a lot of stops on the way to Boise. The first was Redfish Lake, another big, clear, cold, popular camping spot. It was beautiful, a lot like the Tetons, except I was actually allowed to do things here.

While we were there, I had the extreme pleasure of rolling in a dead fish on the lakeshore, and then I had to face the utter humiliation of being given a bath in a marina parking lot. I was so embarrassed. I don't know what Diane and Todd hate so much about me smelling so great.

Shortly after our stop at Redfish Lake, we crossed into Boise National Forest, which was more crazy steep mountains and ridiculous mountain roads full of curves and ups and downs that make Diane and Todd very nervous about the state of the Big Rolling Crate. 

We stopped for a hike at the Warm Creek Trail. It was very steep, very dusty, and did not seem to actually have anything to do with any warm creeks, at least not where we were, but the views were nice.

We had to drive a long dirt road to get to the trailhead, and after our hike, instead of turning right back to the highway, we explored the dirt road more to see if we could get to an access point of the Payette River. When we finally did, Todd and I took a quick swim while Diane just waded. The water was, once again, very cold!

The river was very fast flowing and deep in the middle. I swam in a pool right up against the bank. Todd got into the deeper part.

It was getting on into the afternoon by the time we left, and Diane was eager for us to get a move on because mountain driving is very slow and she wanted to make sure we made it to Boise that night as planned, but we'd only gone a short ways when Todd saw something that made him pull over suddenly to the side of the road.

What he saw was a place where people were swimming in the river and splashing in waterfalls that emptied into it. He turned around and drove back up to the parking area and when she saw the sign, Diane became giddy. They weren't just waterfalls. They were hot springs. 

I couldn't go in the hot springs, which was fine with me because I prefer cold water, but Diane and Todd paid the $5 parking fee and took their time relaxing in the hot water. 

While they were down there, some white water rafting trips floated past. In this picture you can see that the water dripping down the rocks is yellow from the sulfur of the hot springs. The river is the same icy one we swam in the earlier. Diane says that where the hot (VERY hot) water from the springs mixes into the river, it's like bath water. 

Believe it or not, our adventures for the day weren't even over yet. While we were at the hot springs, some smoke began drifting over the ridge, and we all knew what it reminded us of: Colorado. There was definitely a wildfire burning nearby, so we decided to make haste and get out of there because we've had enough of that. What we didn't know was that by driving to Boise we were headed straight for it. 

The hilly road gave the Big Rolling Crate a heck of a workout on the ride out. We stopped at summit to let the engine cool down and Todd happened to get out and walk around the back and notice the exhaust pipe was hanging down. Apparently our dirt road earlier that day had knocked the rusty old thing loose.

Fortunately the Big Rolling Crate has a tool shed and Todd had brought some wire, so he strung it up and we continued on our way.

This was some of the wildest, least populated road we'd traveled yet, which was a concern as the fuel gauge began to dip towards E. We were all holding our breath to see if we would make it to a town with diesel. We definitely cut it close, because it seems most of the towns out there are ghost towns. Fortunately we were able to fuel up and continue our journey.

Shortly after gassing up, we came to a huge lake deep down in a gorge and a sight none of us had ever seen before: A helicopter picking up water to drop on the wildfire, which we'd been approaching this whole time.

We stopped and watched the helipcopter make three or four passes. Diane took a cool video of it but the app she's using for a our blog doesn't let us upload videos :(

At last we drove on, the hills all around us blackened and still smoldering, and soon we came to the town of Boise. 

We parked right by the State House and I explored the soft grass around the big building. Then Diane and Todd went to a nice restaurant called Bittercreek Ale House for dinner. They brought me back some poutine, which is officially the yummiest thing I've ever eaten.

Diane wanted to just crash at a Walmart outside of Boise for the night, but Todd was fired up and the proximity of Oregon and the Pacific Time Zone.

A few weeks ago, when we abandoned I-90 in South Dakota and headed south fo Colorado, Todd had decided he didn't want to go all the way to the pacific and that we'd just camp all around the mountains instead. That night in Boise, he changed his mind again and decided we needed to just do it to complete our cross country adventure.

We picked out a Walmart in Oregon past the time zone line and drove on. We crossed time zones at 12:10 Mountain Time, which was as 11:10 Pacific Time. We gained an hour just like that! A few minutes later, we crossed the 45th Parallel, the theoretical halfway point between the equator and the North Pole (the actual halfway point is some kilometers north). 

At last, at 12:51 Pacific Time, we arrived at Walmart in Island City, OR, and we all fell sound asleep.

Travelogue -- Grand Teton National Park

Elk Ranch Turnout, our first close look at the Tetons.

On Saturday, July 16, we drove straight to Grand Teton National Park, which was frankly really bad planning on our part. Who goes to one of the top 10 busiest national parks on a Saturday in July if they can help it? Apparently us and everybody else.

On our way to the park, we saw a mother bear and some cubs by the side of the road while a golden hawk circled overhead, and we saw a herd of bison near the entrance to the park! By mid afternoon, we'd also seen an antelope and some deer. If nothing else, it was a good day for seeing wildlife.

Because we've found weekends to be difficult in terms of last-minute camping, Diane suggested we go straight to the biggest first-come, first-served campground in the park and secure a spot, so that it was what we did. The minute we paid our $25, Todd regretted it, though. The campground was too big, too crowded, too easy.  His whole vision for the Big Rolling Crate is to have something that can go where RVs can't, and there we were, at yet another campground full of RVs, and this one wasn't quiet or secluded like Sinks or even the Falls Campground where we stayed the night before. Basically, he was super bummed.

The other reason he was bummed was that, just like the Badlands and Rocky Mountain, I wasn't allowed to go anywhere with him. It appears that in the National Parks, the policy is that dogs can only go where vehicles can go. No hiking. No swimming. No canoe rides. It's definitely a sensible policy given how crowded the parks are and how stupid so many dog owners are, but it's tough on all us dogs who can't even go for a walk except around the perimeter of a parking lot. It would be nice if there were at least one or two places people could bring their dogs. Everywhere we went, there were dogs in RVs, just waiting for their people. Sometimes, I was one of them.

Anyway, once we got to our campsite, we had lunch, and then I took a nap while Todd and Diane explored Colter Bay on bikes. Colter Bay is basically like a resort camping area with a shop, restaurants, a visitors center, a marina, and a big swimming beach, but, like I said, I wasn't allowed to go to any of it, so after their exploration, we all got back in the Big Rolling Crate for a scenic drive and trip to the town of Jackson.

The Tetons as seen from the lake shore at Colter Bay.

We stopped a lot and took pictures and I got to swim in the stream below Jenny Lake.

When we got to Jackson, Todd immediately regretted the decision to drive there as it was a crowded, kitschy, tourist town, but then we found a nice big park where I could run freely and catch a ball and play, and that made him happy. Also in the park, there was a free bouldering wall, so Todd and Diane put on their climbing shoes and got in a little practice.

Todd on the wall.

Diane on the wall.

After that, we drove back to Colter Bay because it was getting late. Diane and Todd went to the cafeteria for dinner and then used the public showers, and then, we were heading back to our camp, we saw this awesome scene:

Talk about Purple Mountain Majesty!

Overnight, it got really cold. When we went to sleep at night it was 74 in the Big Rolling Crate. When we woke up Sunday morning, it was 52! We packed up and got rolling as quick as possible because Todd had determined that the best bet for the day was a hike, which, of course, I couldn't go on, but since it was so cool in the Big Rolling Crate, Todd figured if they hiked early, I could just nap here without them. I cannot tell you how sad I was to have to miss a big hike in the mountains! It broke my heart a little. Then again, I do love napping, so it wasn't all bad.

While I dozed, Diane and Todd took the boat shuttle across Jenny Lake to do the Cascades Canyon Hike, which was about 9 miles round trip. 

Looking up into the canyon from the boat shuttle.

Honestly, when I saw the pictures after, I wasn't too sad to miss it, because I think my paws would have hurt from all that rugged terrain. Still, the views of the mountains from the canyon were beautiful, if the pictures can be believed.

Diane says this was about a little less than halfway through the hike.

And this was from the place where Diane turned around. Todd kept going another half mile or so. Don't worry--this is one of the most traveled trails in the entire park, so neither Todd nor Diane was ever particularly alone. In fact, at one point on the way down Todd took a tumble, but there was a park ranger right there to make sure he was okay (and he mostly was, although his hand and shoulder kind of hurt now).

I was so happy to see my people when they got back. You know, we've been so glued to each other since this trip began, this was one of the first times I've gotten to miss them! 

Right after they got back, a thunder storm rolled through, our first rain of any kind since July 6! There was a lot of thunder and lightening, but the whole thing couldn't have lasted more than 15 minutes.

We drove up to Signal Mountain because Diane and Todd were flithy and needed showers and to do laundry, and once that was done, we decided it was time to leave the beautiful Tetons and go on to Idaho.

Even though I don't get to do much in the national parks, I'm glad we came.

Our first attempt to leave Wyoming was thwarted by the Teton Pass, which climbs a 10% grade and is heavily traveled. We tried it, realized pretty quickly it was a recipe for overheating, stopped, took this picture, and headed back to Jackson to take the long way around.

It was a long drive to Idaho Falls and Walmart where we planned to sleep, and as usual, we got no early start on it, but we did have some incredible views of the moon over the Snake River as we drove. 

Idaho was dark and empty. We drove along Alpine Lake, and except for a few times when the moon lit up the water, we didn't see anything. At least we arrived in Idaho Falls around 11:30 PM and we all dropped to sleep right away. We would've probably gotten a great night's sleep if the jets of water from lawn sprinklers hadn't started pounding against the sides of the Big Rolling Crate in the middle in the night. Still, it was a small disturbance and the back and one side got nice and clean of all the dust we've been carrying since Colorado. 

Travelogue -- Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve

July  18. We drove to the moon! Okay, not the actual moon, but the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, which is as close to the moon as I ever need to get. I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but behind the Big Rolling Crate are a lot black rocks. Those are lava rocks. This area once was a great flow of lava and now what's left behind kind of looks like the moon. Of course, as the kid at the picnic table next to ours pointed out at lunch, there are no plants on the moon, but still, it does have an other-worldly look about it.

Let me tell you, we are learning a lot of geology on this adventure. Everywhere we stop seems to be some unique geological wonder. The Badlands. Rocky Mountain National Park. Split Rock. The Tetons. Hell's Half Acre (more lava rocks we saw earlier today). 

But I have to say, this is by far the ugliest of them. It's just a bunch of black rocks and black cinder heaps called cones, and once again, I can't go anywhere, and why would I want to anyway?

We ate lunch at picnic tables in some rare pockets of shade in a grassy patch where there was a big sign that said:

"No pets on grass. You can walk your pet along the edge of the parking lot or road." 

And Todd jokes, "Why don't they add, 'And shoot it for all we care,'" because that's the general national park/national monument attitude towards pets. I sat quietly under the table in the grass and shade, and nobody seemed the mind, despite the sign. It would've been too hot in the Big Rolling Crate and no way were Diane and Todd going to pace up and down the hot road under the relentless sun.

Actually, Diane and I have written our last three blog posts from a nice shady picnic table while Todd is off exploring caves. The wind here is incessant and strong, so it's like we're at the beach except instead of waves there's just a sea of black rocks that was once a sea of lava. This place might not be worth the stop unless you really love lava rocks and caves.

Here's a dead tree on some lava rocks.

And here are some lava rocks up close.

And this is a cinder cone that Todd walked up. Why? Who knows. Diane went about half way, decided it wasn't worth the effort, and came back down.

We aren't really sure where we'll go next, but it does seem the plan to get to the pacific, which had previously been abandoned, is now a possibility again. We shall see. We have a little less than a week until we need to turn around.

We are getting very good at camping. Tonight will be our 7th consecutive night in the Big Rolling Crate, our longest stretch without a hotel. 

PS. Todd says the caves were the coolest part of Craters of the Moon. 

Travelogue -- Shoshone National Forest

Diane is really mad right now because she just wrote a whole long post for me about the Shoshone National Forest and then her iPad froze and it got erased and she says she's not writing it all over again. Instead we're going to give you the short version:

On Friday, July 15, after we left our lovely Sinks Canyon campsite, we drove up into Shoshone National Forest on a beautifully scenic road that began paved and wound its way up with hairpins and switchbacks to an elevation of over 9,000 feet. From there the went along a ride with small ups and downs and became dirt road.

Even though it was dirt and narrow and had steep drop offs to the side sometimes, there were tons of people driving it in both directions. At one point, we were going down and an RV was coming up, and it was a tense moment and we figured out how to get past each other.

We drove as far as a high pass where Todd parked the Big Rolling Crate and he and I took a walk to an old CCC overlook. Diane didn't come because it was buggy there and she hates bugs. She stayed in the Big Rolling Crate and read until we got back.

The hike wasn't long but the overlook was scary! It was basically really old stone steps the side of a cliff. Todd was scared for me, and his fear made me afraid, but we took our time and were careful and everything was fine.

On the drive back down, we stopped at a stream to swim. The water was freezing!

From there, we drove back to Lander for a late lunch. Diane and Todd went to a restaurant called Gannett Grill and had really nice hamburgers. Even though I couldn't go to the restaurant, I know it was good because they brought me a doggy bag and I had hamburger in my dinner for the next two days. It was delicious!

From Lander, we headed towards the Tetons with the plan to camp in the northern part of Shoshone National Forest. 

We drove a long time through the Wind River Indian reservation. After we crossed the reservation, we stopped at a public river access for a quick dip.

There wasn't much in the way of towns on the whole drive, but as we got into the National Forest, we did see this sign:

The northern part of the forest was a lot different from the southern part. The Southern part had these rolling hills with lots of boulders and outcrops. The northern part had very steep, pointy, rocky peaks and tall, narrow pines. 

We spent the night at the Falls Campground, which wasn't as nice as Sinks, but was a good place for one night and got us pretty close to Grand Teton National Park. Here are some pictures from our campsite:

Diane likes being at a campground, as opposed to dispersed camping, because there are tables, fire pits, bear safes, and bathrooms.

Todd heated up some leftover pizza over the fire. It got very cold in the night, so it was nice to have a fire.

Except, I am kind of afraid of open fires, so whenever we have one, I go sit far away. 

There were tons of holes in the field behind me here. At first we thought they were from prairie dogs, but when Diane finally got a good look at the critters that kept popping up, we realized they were somethings else, maybe pika. Whatever they were, I could have played whack-a-mole with them all night long if only Diane and Todd had let me.

The last of the day's sun on the clouds.

And the moon on the rise.