Craters of the Moon National Monument near Arco, Idaho

Sorry for such a short blog post on the Grand Tetons. They are worthy of so much more. But we have been traveling quickly and I've had little time to organize the photos and thoughts that go into this blog. We have now been on the road for about 5 weeks, and I'm finally getting around to catching up on what we did 4 weeks ago!

A couple of hours drive over the Rocky Mountains brings us into Idaho, a new state for all of us. They call it "The Gem State" and I can only assume that's because it has a high incidence of gem-quality minerals. It is mountainous, yet open meadow in a lot of places too. We focus on an area northwest of Pocatello (which always reminds me of Judy Garland, singing "Born in a Trunk" in the movie "A Star is Born" - yeah, I'm a 50s-60s musical buff).

Anyway, we're here to see the Craters of the Moon, a vast area of lava spewed forth beginning 15,000 years ago from a 52-mile (84-kilometre) series of deep fissures known as the Great Rift that cross the Snake River Plain..

It's almost unthinkable how life can exist in this place, but it does. This hearty little plant is about the size of my hand.

A close-up of some chunks of lava. Its surface is very rough. Here you can see the algae growing on it.

There are a few lava tubes in the park, but we don't explore them as our campground host convinces us to explore a much lesser known cave further to the north called Hidden Mouth Cave. And I'm glad he does as we have the place all to ourselves, although we are hiking in the rain and the trail is steep, muddy and difficult to find at times.

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Back on the road for Year 7! Wow! Where have the years gone?

We leave early this year, right after Labour Day. The plan is to get to the Oregon Coast before the weather turns bad (ha ha! After all, it IS the Pacific Northwest where the weather is notoriously wet!) But our first destination will be in Wyoming at Grand Teton National Park for two reasons. First, to visit with friends Nancy and Dave who are temporarily working in Jackson Hole at the south end of the park; second, because the last time we were here (after visiting Yellowstone NP in 2012), we just drove through since we couldn't see the mountains thanks to the numerous forest fires.

Brad thinks he's a cowboy! Probably the MOST photographed barn in the park, in Wyoming, and probably in all of the U.S. Sitting alongside Mormon Row, this barn attracts crowds every day thanks to its perfect location.

A glorious view of the Tetons reached by a short hike to a beaver pond off Schwabacher Road.

Catching the last rays of sun from Signal Mountain.

Our longest hike in the park - 4 miles to Taggart Lake.

And this year proves to be no different from our last visit. Small fires have been burning and thanks to a very windy day close the highway to Yellowstone NP north of us. Our route will take us south and west, so this closure doesn't affect us.

After a great dinner with Dave and Nancy on our last night, we walk around the town of Jackson Hole. Here is Nancy and me in the town square where an elk antler arch adorns each corner. Don't worry, the elk aren't killed for their antlers. The males shed their antlers every fall and are collected.

Many thanks to Dave for touring us around the park this year while poor Nancy had to work. We're so glad we had the opportunity to squeeze this beautiful park and such wonderful friends into our schedule.