Driving back from the rugged, dry, quiet, end-of-salmon's-epic-journey place of our outdoor adventure 2013 (aka Sawtooth NRA, Idaho), we happened upon an interesting and off-the-beaten-path National Park. We noticed it on the map but did not make a point to stop through. Luckily, Google Maps routed us to the road that passes Craters of the Moon National Park and, as I watched through the window, fields of crops turned into what looked like massive piles of broken asphalt. And then a landscape of shiny black solidified lava flow and huge volcanic cones. We were awed.
Just past the Park we hit Atomic City and DOE's nuclear reactor testing lab. Of course, we couldn't help but harken back to our X-Files-obsessed days and think connection. Headline: "Underground nuclear testing opens up gaping hole in Earth's crust; destruction covered up by feds using the guise of a National Park. Bizarre black wonderland draws visitors from near and far." Can you think of Stranger Things?
