The Next Part of the Trip

It's a rainy, overcast day here in Idaho but that's no shock because practically every day since we've been here has been rainy and overcast. That beautiful, opalescent weather that I've come to expect from Idaho in June has been non-existent. Ah well.



Tomorrow we go to Yellowstone. We'll leave after breakfast and take our time heading up there. After seeing the Playmill production of Footloose in the evening, we'll stay the night at the Greywolf Inn. For those who are familiar with the nightmarish story of our honeymoon, the Greywolf is the hotel we transferred to after our little cabin at the Hibernation Station froze solid. So going back there will be a blast from the past.

Friday, we'll drive through the park. I doubt we'll go around the whole loop -- too much time -- but we'll probably circle the lower loop and check out the paint pots, Old Faithful, and hopefully some bison. We'll drive back to Rexburg that evening, stay the night, and then start back for Illinois Saturday morning.

On another subject: A couple of days before we left for our trip, I had the TV on the Discovery Channel and it was featuring a documentary about the volcano Krakatoa. Avery walked in and later Maryn did too and, for whatever reason, they were absolutely fascinated. The show had some cool footage of actual volcanos and some CGI recreations of what the Krakatoa eruption might have looked at. Since then we've been talking about volcanos and lava and calderas and all that.

Well, yesterday we stopped to visit my Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob. Bob is an amatuer geologist and has all sorts of really cool rocks that he's collected from around the state. He gave Avery a big piece of quartz crystal and Maryn a big chunk of a lava bomb. Maryn in particular was thrilled. She named her rock "Krakatoa" and treated it like her pet.

Earlier today, I heard a wail coming from downstairs that sounded like something serious was wrong. It was Maryn and I could tell the cry was a genuine one and not just one of annoyance or anger. What had happened was she had put Krakatoa in a little wagon and was pulling it around when it fell out and broke into two pieces. She was heartbroken that her beloved lava bomb was broken.

Got that? My daughter was tremendously sad because her lava rock broke.

I felt bad for her because she was sad but I was quietly proud of her for being a weird, little nerd like her father. She's a kindred spirit alright.

Anyway, one aspect of the Yellowstone trip that she's excited about is that Uncle Bob told her that the park caldera makes Krakatoa (the volcano, not the pet rock) look like nothing. So Maryn's all fired up to go into a caldera and see all the hot stuff coming up through the surface.