Butte County

200 miles or so of driving. A supposedly closed stretch of motorway pushed us towards an alternative route which went via the Craters of the Moon National Park. Sounded a suitable stop off - some walks & a markedly different landscape to anything we'd encountered before - volcanic outcrops, craters and lava flows. The initial drive was more interesting than a motorway but in no time at all we were back to long endless plains - as per normal. Approaching the national park we passed through lava fields which uncannily looked like endless piles of black rubble. Hopefully the park would be a little more distinctive than that. Judging by the visitor centre and how busy it was a lot people were expecting the same. The queue to pay was the biggest we've seen so far. Didn't bode well. The first walk - no space at the car park. The second & we were fortunate - the devil's orchard was a series of weird shaped lava outcrops and numerous negative placards about pollution. Might consider getting people out of the cars & instigating a shuttle bus system like every other national park we've been to. Next two car parks were full so no climbs up the cinder cones & the one way system meant a 5 mile round trip to have another go. Certainly was distinctive & striking scenery but the sheer weight of traffic spoiled it somewhat. Still we didn't pay so can't complain too much. Headed off to Idaha Falls & as Liz was heading towards a satisfying doze I was intrigued by a Historic Monument sign - EBR1 - curious - had to investigate which unfortunately meant a u-turn. She awoke to find us heading towards some form of nuclear museum. She wasn't impressed. Even less so when we were stopped by a soldier. Fortunately I wasn't in any more trouble - he was just helping out - they were rammed with all the post eclipse traffic. Anyway we parked up and she tolerated a self guided tour of the first generating nuclear power plant in the world. Hopefully we wouldn't leave glowing...Read more