Polson, Montana...a huge letdown!

Headed towards Polson, MT today.  Stopped to see this roadside feature.  

 

 

 Not much else going on (rugged mountains, no vegetation but unique, subpar housing, curvy roads) in the Challis/Salmon, ID region. We had the impression that there might be a lot of people hiding from the government here.  Near the Montana border the vegetation/topography changes suddenly with large trees, beetle kill, and rain.  

Stopped in Polson, MT today.  We stayed at the Bayview Inn on Flathead Lake.  

 

Do yourself a favor and stay somewhere else.  The views from the Inn were nice 

 

even though we were looking across a loud highway, however, the rooms itself were not.  The mattress on the bed was curved, the bedspread had a burnt hole from a cigarette (non-smoking room), and everything in the place was dated from the late 70's or early 80's.  I will say the rooms were fairly clean but really they could have put a little bit of money in updating.  The 'continental' breakfast consisted of three cereals, and a couple of packages of donuts.  Again it seemed very budget oriented and not geared towards getting return customers.  On a bright note the flowers in front of the place were nice and eye catching but I would rather of had them spend the money on a new mattress.  Our experience here was a huge bummer since it was only the second hotel we had stayed in and our third shower overall.  I even mentioned that I would rather be camping than staying here.

I was hoping to make it out to Wild Horse Island State Park.  It is an island in the middle of Flathead Lake that has wild horses and big horn sheep.  I called the State Park as well as a couple of boat rental places to find a way to get out there.  Short of spending $320 (the only boats available were for tubing and water skiing, my guys are too young for that to be worthwhile) for the four of us it just wasn't going to happen. Everyone I talked to thought it was odd that I would just want to go out there and hike and come back to shore. I was very disappointed not to make it there!

Unfortunately, our experience with this town didn't get any better.  We were in search of a fish fry for dinner.  I figured if we were on a lake this size that it would be easy to find somewhere that had fish.  Nope, I don't believe that exists.  The front desk of the Bayview Inn recommended a 'family' restaurant in town.  I know there are lots of people out there that like 'family' style food but it makes my insides churn.  I'd been camping for two weeks...I wanted a tasty, real meal.  Our best bet seemed to be this:

 

 It was a cute place with a nice retro feel inside.  The breaded fish we got from them was pretty good (small portions) but what really set me off was the micro sized hamburger from the kid's menu.  It was downright tiny and cost $6.20!  Mind you, this was a diner!  My son even looked at it and asked me if that was it.  He's never done that before.  We stopped at A&W for dessert just to fill him up.   I just wanted to get out of town!

In the morning we headed out on the east side of Flathead Lake and stopped at Pilot Knob on Highway 35 for fresh cherries and raspberries.  It was a bright spot in my trip to Polson.  Nothing beats fresh fruit and a charismatic, knowledgeable owner.

Glacier National Park here we come!

Spatter Cones at Crater's of the Moon

We did a Junior Ranger talk the first night we were there since we didn't know how long we would be staying.  Ranger Margaret and Emerald did a nice job.  Notice all the 'kids' getting sworn in.

 

Did a run this morning on the North Crater Trail (4.06 miles).  Lots of ups and downs with cool pahoehoe  and some great craters before I had to turn around.  Made me excited about the days activities.

Our 1st stop was the North Crater Flow Trail:

 You can see some good examples of the lava flows on this trail:

 Pahoehoe Lava:

Crater fragments that rafted here by lava flow:

 

Devil's Orchard, stop 2, island like fragments stand in a sea of cinders:

 

Not many plants, trees, or flowers grow here:

Stop 3, Inferno Cone

This cone can get really hot in the afternoon.

View of cinder cones along the Great Rift:

View towards the visitor center:

Stop 4, Spatter Cones:

 

Stop 5, Trail to Buffalo Cave, the Park Service drive these cool moon buggies:

 

Wildflower:

 Views of the lava flows:

 Buffalo Cave:

 Stop 6, Cave Areas

Indian Tunnel:

 Beauty Cave:

 

 Boy Scout Cave:

 

Dew Drop Cave:

 

We started around 10 this morning and ended at 4:30.  We were beat!  The kids were fantastic and enthusiastic about visiting the caves.  We walked with them on our shoulders at the end of the day, otherwise they walked about 4.5 miles in the ninety degree heat.  We headed to the visitor's center to cool off, rest, and finish up our Junior Ranger sheets.  Q got a little bit tuckered out watching the movie!

 We finally headed back to our campsite for some much needed R and R.  The green monster (the tent in the background) was something we bought (in Idaho Falls) especially for Craters of the Moon since we knew it was going to be so hot with no shade.

A cool butterfly we caught inside of the green monster:

 

 The next morning I went for a bike/hike (10.63 miles) out to the tree molds trail before we left.  There are imprints of lava charred trees and molds of upright trees. 

 

 More cool wildflowers:

 

Hike: Craters of the Moon to Tree Molds

Trails Used:  General Road to Tree Molds Trail to General Road

Distance: 10.63 miles

Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 7.2 mph
Overall Time: 1 hrs, 28 min
Total Ascent: 736 ft.

 

 

On the way back to our campsite I was lucky enough to see this beautiful double rainbow.  It was a nice farewell to Crater's of the Moon National Monument.

 

Map for Craters of the Moon:

Mormons & Nuclear Power!

 

After leaving the Tetons we drove right by Jackson Hole.  We just didn't have any interest in it.  It looked like all the other tourist towns we live by and we'd already done the Alpine Slide once with the kids this summer.  Leaving Jackson Hole we drove up the Teton Scenic Byway up to Teton Pass (8431').  What a beautiful road.  It would be a great place to hike in the future.

We stopped in Victor, ID for breakfast.  The Sun Dog Cafe and Deli was a great stop.  The kids had yummy pancakes and I had a wonderful yogurt with granola and lots of fresh fruit.  The chef even gave us extra strawberries, bananas, and oranges.  We appreciated it since fresh fruit had been in short supply for the last week or so.

 

While we were eating we used a nearby laundromat to catch up on some much needed laundry.  The kids and daddy went to Driggs, ID while I finished the laundry.  Not much was happening there.  Originally, we had planned on staying in Victor but we decided to move on to a more lively place.

We stopped at the visitor center in Idaho Falls  (a Mormon town) for some insight on where to stay and eat.

 

 

They were very helpful and their recommendations proved to be spot on.  The Comfort Inn had a pool that the kids enjoyed

 

and their rooms were clean.

 

 The Snake Bite in downtown was awesome. 

I had this yummy burger and salad.  The fries were good as well and I'm not a big french fry eater.

Idaho Falls has a nice bike trail along the falls and river.

 

 

We went for a bike ride the next morning and crossed a couple of bridges that the kids enjoyed.
There were a couple neat sculptures and some cool sculptural benches along the river.

 

 

Ate at Jalisco's for lunch.  Good food.

We were heading towards Crater's of the Moon and looking for ice cream when we found the best stop ever.  It was Reed's Family Dairy.  Daddy and I had homemade Huckleberry ice cream.  It was fantastic.  They even had a small petting farm for the kids.

Craters of the Moon National Monument is literally in the middle of nowhere.  The Idaho National Laboratories  (how innocuous sounding) has it's headquarters out in the vast wasteland.

 

There are many restricted access areas and lots of barbed wire.  Below is from their website:

About INL
In operation since 1949, INL is a science-based, applied engineering national laboratory dedicated to supporting the U.S. Department of Energy's missions in nuclear and energy research, science, and national defense.
Mission
Ensure the nation's energy security with safe, competitive, and sustainable energy systems and unique national and homeland security capabilities.
Vision
By 2015, INL will be the pre-eminent nuclear energy laboratory with synergistic, world-class, multi-program capabilities and partnerships.

After this we saw a couple of dirt devils:

 

Almost passed by the EBR-I Atomic Museum

 

but we were really glad we ended up stopping.   We still had the 'spooky' feeling with all the signs and wire but it was very cool.

 

This plant powered the first town (Arco) with nuclear power in 1950.  Clayton gave us a great personal tour.  There were even enough things to keep the kids interested the whole time!

Finally, we made it to Craters of the Moon National Monument in the afternoon.