Well, we have been busy getting things situated and now we are sitting right outside Lebanon. Yes, you read this correctly, we are in Lebanon Indiana just outside Indianapolis. What? How and When? Keep calm, I'll explain. we have been traveling now for just under a month starting again from Sacramento California. Plans changed on us from the beginning of the summer and we were running out of time. We were determined to get this trip going as we had been Yo-yoing back and forth from Sacramento. Two things we wanted to accomplish and it now seems we are getting closer. First thing, to visit as many National Parks as we can, second is to visit as many States as we can to see where we may want to live permanently. Since we had already travelled up north through Oregon and Washington, we decided to cut across Nevada into Idaho. The first day of driving took us to the Trinity Rest area in Nevada, located on the California Trail where we spent the night.
The second day we stretched 5 hours of driving into 8 making a few stops along the way. We made it as far as the town of Jackpot right before you enter Idaho. That actually was a beautiful location to spend the night next to a cliff and a stream.
The third day we finally made it to Twin Falls, ID as this is one of the destinations I have been eyeing. It seems to be growing as there are many homes being built and newer shopping centers in town. We also took time to visit Shoshone Falls where we stopped and had lunch, unfortunately someone turned off the water and the falls were dry. It was still an incredible landscape.
We ended up spending the night at a wonderful winery in Buhl called Holesincky Winery. It was a gorgeous setting. We found this with the subscription on Harvest Host. We tasted some wine and had dinner watching the sunset.
The next morning we headed to the Twin Falls downtown area, there was a small market with some live music. I wanted to try the local coffee roaster so we stopped into Twin Beans and grabbed a Mocha which was pretty good.
We walked a bit downtown, it wasn't as busy as I was expecting. We then stopped off at the visitors center and was surprised to find base jumpers leaping from the Perrine Bridge. That was fun to watch.
On to Craters of the Moon, we drove from Twin Falls and made to Craters of the Moon. The wind had picked up on the drive and it was howling. On the bright side we ended up with a (in Adam Sandlers voice) Freeeeee camping spot, as a tent camper couldn't take the wind. Craters of the Moon wasn't originally a destination on our list, but I am glad we went. It was windy and cold, but I think that made it a more memorable experience. The night skies were lit only by the moonlight and the stars. It stormed Most of the night and it felt as if the wind would blow our van over. it was still overcast by morning and the wind was still present, but we were intent on seeing the caves. We drove the loop and stopped at many of the viewing points for pictures. We got out in the cold blowing wind and walked up Inferno Cone. Incredible views from the top. We finished driving the loop and got our passes to explore the caves. These caves are actually lava tubes. The coolest one in my opinion was Indian cave, it was also the largest of the ones we visited.
