Craters of the Moon

One of the days in Idaho we decided to head over to the Craters of the Moon Nat’l Monument. 

It seemed fitting since we were here to see the eclipse, after all.  The kids must have had a much different idea of what this place would look like, because when we drove up Kurt said, “Mom.  This doesn’t look like the moon AT ALL”.  

Once we learned that the rocks and craters surrounding the land were in fact igneous rock, I was so excited.  During our rock unit, this seems to be the type of rock that they all remember and I for one was excited to learn more.  

Apparently, the monument has three major lava fields that lie along the Great Rift of Idaho.  The volcanic rock there has been collecting there for thousands of years through rifts, or cracks in the Earth’s foundation.  The monument was founded and preserved around the 1920s (before Man ever walked on the moon) and it wasn’t until years later that people discovered it in no way resembles the types of craters found on the moon (moon craters are created by meteorites while their namesakes on Earth were created by volcanic eruptions).  The coolest part though is that the Apollo astronauts preformed part of their training at Craters of the Moon Lava Field by learning to look for and collect good rock specimens in an unfamiliar and harsh environment. 

We had a great time visiting the monument.  The kids loved reading all of the signs and pointing out the different types of lava rock surrounding them.  As we walked, they sang the little tune from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, “Hot-Hot Lava!”  At one point, Grant was running around the trail and (as he often does) fell onto the rock to the side of the trail.  As I picked him up he cried out, “Fell down…in hot-hot-lava!”  Now when you ask him how he got the scrapes he says, “Fell down. In hot-hot-lava”.  Please don’t tell DCFS.  I promise it wasn’t as bad as he made it sound! 

 

It was a hot day, and all of the talk about lava made it feel even hotter.  When we had finished the small trail, Chase challenged the kids (like he often does) to run around the trail and see if they could do it without stopping.  They did and when they came back their little faces were about as red as the lava itself!  I’m proud of these kids.  They desperately wanted to get back in the truck after that, but we decided to hike up to the look out point instead.  

After a LONG hike to the top and back down again, we stopped to have lunch.  In true Bubba-form, he was up in the trees before his lunch was fully digested.  

Once we were back home in the trailer, we gathered our pamphlets, stickers and postcards and glued them into our Passport books.  We even got a stamp from Craters of the Moon for visiting the monument, and one for the solar eclipse.  Our Passport books are filling up fast! 

Vance's picture of him surrounded by lava rock :) 

I love her little tongue out as she concentrates!

His writing is getting so good these days! 

We had a great time at Craters of the Moon, even if it didn't look like the moon after all!