Craters of the Moon National Park

Its amazing how many things there are to do within a few hours of our home.  At the end of Summer we went on a mini vacation up to Idaho and were able to visit volcanos, ice caves, rivers, waterfalls and more.  It was a really fun trip.  Like ALL trips, there is always someone who is sad, or tired, or hungry, or needs to pee, or someone is wandering off.  That is just what happens with three little boys.  I'm not even sure what a vacation would be like without crying, or complaining, or needing to stop to pee every hour ha ha ha.


We first stopped at a visitor center near the snake river, and saw this gorgeous view.

We then made our way to the "Niagara of the west."   It was a gorgeous waterfall, but I remember it was really hot, and Chase did not want to walk around to see the other sites in that area. We kind of had to coax him to walk around for a few minutes until Mommy started to die from the heat ha ha ha.

We found a nearby reservoir that the boys enjoyed playing in for a little while.  Wesley loves the water and got soaking wet even though we didn't have any clothing for him to change into.  Chase, on the other hand, is very thoughtful and did not want to go near the water because he did not want to end up all wet.

My favorite part of the trip was visiting Mammoth caves.  Unlike most caves I have been to, this one had no tour guide.  It is privately owned, and is located way out in the middle of nowhere.  The decor surrounding the outside of the cave was really unique and fun.  We were given two propane lanterns (the cave did not have ANY lights),  and we descended into the depths of a dark cave all on our own.  It...was...AWESOME! The boys had little flashlights, but the shadows from the few lights we had cast an eerie glow on the cave walls.  We all really enjoyed that experience.

The cave was NOT this bright - my camera just captured more light 

This was the bathroom!!!!  So awesome!!  ha ha ha 

We also took a tour of an ice cave.  I was really excited about this tour, but it wasn't as exciting as the mammoth caves.  This one had a tour guide, and since it was in the middle of Summer, a lot of the ice had melted.  Also, we  had to walk on a really narrow bridge over the ice.  It was my two year old's nap time, and he was not happy to be in the cave.  He refused to be held, and I was really worried he was going to fall into the ice.  I spent most of the tour holding the back of his shirt with my Mommy death grip.  He finally let Daddy hold him on the way out, and fell asleep on his shoulder.

Another fun destination was the Craters of the Moon national park.  We were able to climb on top of a volcano, and see other amazing volcanic sights.

For dinner, I really wanted to go to a restaurant with a view.  We found one that overlooked the snake river.  The food was ok, but the view was amazing.  They even had live music playing.

The view from our table 

 On our way home we made a quick stop to see the Golden Spike National monument.  It wasn't incredibly exciting, but Chase and Blake are my train lovers, and enjoyed seeing the gorgeous trains.

There was a NASA building that had some rocket parts out front that we stumbled across on our way home from seeing the trains.  The boys loved running around in a cylindrical tube that was part of a rocket.  That was probably the highlight of their trip ha ha ha.