Day 23: Boise to Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Well.....we had plans to get up early and swim at the hotel pool and explore downtown Boise.  But, when 8 am rolled around no one was very interested in getting up!  So we slept in and ended up having a great brunch downtown before headed out.

We did get to drive by the Idaho State Capitol...

And then we drove.  And drove.  And, it mostly looked like this...

We did see the remains of this old school that was built on the Oregon Trail and you know I HAD to stop for a picture!  Made Scott turn around and go back!

 Our next stop was the Craters of the Moon National Park.  Weirdest park I have ever seen.  It's like 60 square miles of lava fields that were formed over millions of years from volcanoes and cracks in the Earth's crust.  We stopped at the Visitor Center and looked at the exhibits and the Park Ranger explained to the kids all the different types of lava they would see in the park.

 Our first stop in the park was Incineration Peak...

 It looks like black sand or asphalt in this picture, but it was more like gravel, just lots of tiny little gravel lava rocks.  This picture is deceiving.  Once you got to the "top", there was another steep incline to the actual top!   Here are the kids at the very top with a volcano in the background.  It's dormant, but not extinct.

 Kendall and Mandy on the hike down.  With the exception of the blue sky, it does look like they are walking on the surface of the moon...

After hiking the peak, they hiked about a half mile in to some caves.  Scott took a bunch of pics along the way of them in the craters and on the lava...

After leaving the park, we again, drove and drove.  They do manage to entertain themselves though.  They played the iPhone version of headbands...

And an iSpy card game that Scott had bought them at one of the gift shops...

I will say that the view just got prettier and prettier the closer we go to Jackson Hole...

Scott wanted me to be sure and mention that we passed the 6000 mile mark on our trip today! He estimated that we've used about 400 gallons of gas.

Our plan tomorrow is to check out the town of Jackson and plan our strategy for Yellowstone!  We are also going to make jam!  I know it sounds crazy, but we have all these awesome berries and cherries and jam is really easy to make.  We are in a cabin for the next 4 nights and it has a small kitchen so we are gonna give it a go! May be kinda pioneer style...

If anyone has any Yellowstone suggestions or recommendations let us know! 

Blessings,

Leslie