Peaks to Craters

 

We hated saying goodbye to the Sawtooth Mountains but thought it fitting that the road we traveled this morning is called the Peaks to Craters Scenic Byway. This byway took us to a national monument we wanted to visit called Craters of the Moon. Craters of the Moon is a vast expanse of lava flows and cinder cones. There are also a number of small volcanoes, in the park, but most of the exposed lava issued thousands of years ago from a series of fissures referred to as the Great Rift. In 1918, President Calvin Coolidge described the area as “a weird and scenic landscape, peculiar to itself.” In 1969, Apollo Astronauts learned basic volcanic geology here as they prepared for their moon mission. We enjoyed climbing a mountain of ash and checking out the unusual volcanic features on the 7-mile loop road that goes through the park.

Our home for the night is a KOA in Arco, Idaho. Sometimes referred to as Atomic City, Arco was the first community in the world to be lit by electricity generated solely by nuclear power. This occurred for about an hour, on July 17, 1955, and was powered by Argonne National Laboratory. We didn’t choose to visit Argo solely because of its atomic history fame. This happens to be where Mark’s dad worked (for Argonne National Laboratory) right before he died.

“Where’s the Park?”

 

Idaho is the only western state without a national park. Bills to establish a national park, in the Sawtooth Mountains, were introduced in 1913, 1916, 1935, 1960 and 1963 but none were enacted. A joint report on the area, published in 1965, recommended it become either a national park or national recreation area. The national recreation area was a compromise allowing logging, hunting and grazing to continue in the area but it was also a quicker path to protecting more than 750,000 acres of the Sawtooth, Boulder and White Cloud mountains and the valley between. Congress passed legislation for a national recreation area in 1972. Since then, two thirds of the area has been designated wilderness. In many ways that might be even better than becoming a national park. The goal of a wilderness area is to preserve an area in its natural condition; wildlife are left wild and free and natural processes unfold without intervention. Today, the area is often referred to as “the heart of Idaho.” Not a bad place to hike, bike and recreate for the week!

Idaho

 

Six months ago, Mark and I packed up and headed west. We’ve now officially begun our journey home. We will take our time making our way east. The plan is to arrive back in Chattanooga the first week of September. After a couple of long driving days, and a short stay in Montana, we’ve landed in Idaho for a few weeks. It feels strange being on Mountain Standard Time again. The months we spent on Pacific Standard Time will perhaps be the only time in my life I consistently stayed up later at night than my grown children.

Idaho is undoubtedly one of our favorite places to visit. One reason is the important role this area played in Mark’s life when his family moved to Idaho in 1977. This is where Mark graduated high school and began college. It’s where he learned to ski and got interested in biking. It’s where his father unexpectedly died when Mark was 19. After Mark and I married, my very first plane ride was to the state of Idaho to visit family there. Thank goodness we still have family in the state so there’s always a reason to revisit.

On this trip our first stop has been Salmon, Idaho; a scenic mountain-town located on the banks of the Salmon River. This river is one of the few un-dammed waterways left in America. We loved our hike to a high desert hot springs called Goldbug. It’s on National Forest Land, nestled in rugged backcountry and is a true geothermal gem.

The TV Generation

 

Baby Boomers, also known as the TV Generation, were born between 1946 and 1964. As a group they were the wealthiest and the first generation to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time. Mark and I are Baby Boomers. We are generally optimistic and we love television.

In my last post I focused on our admiration for the 1990 show Northern Exposure. That same year another show (Twin Peaks) premiered and was also filmed in Washington state. Whether you are a fan or not, Twin Peaks and its competitor/cousin, Northern Exposure, forever altered the landscape of network television.

Twin Peaks is a murder mystery set in an idyllic Northern Pacific small town where darkness lurks beneath white picket fences and well maintained lawns. The drama follows the FBI investigation of the murder of a small town’s homecoming queen. Special Agent Dale Cooper is sent to solve the murder in Twin Peaks and though he is completely serious about solving the case he also develops an affinity for the unusually good coffee and cherry pie at the local Double R Diner.

Realizing we couldn’t walk down memory lane with one show and not the other, we took another day trip to North Bend, WA, and Snoqualmie Falls, where the show was filmed. We found the Double R Diner, now known as Tweed’s Cafe. According to Special Agent Cooper “This is where pies go when they die and you can get a damn fine cup of coffee!”

Almost Alaska

 

Thirty-three years ago an offbeat, quirky television series, called Northern Exposure, premiered with a young moose ambling through the opening credits. The series was about the eccentric residents of a fictional small town called Cicely, Alaska. Turns out the show was actually filmed in Roslyn, WA, just a few miles from where we are camping. Mark and I love the series so we planned a day to visit and hoped  to see some of the places that might be familiar after watching five seasons of the show. Roslyn’s weather-worn architecture, from the 1900’s, and the fact that Washington’s oldest continually-operating bar (The Brick) is located there, help to explain why this town was chosen to play the part of a remote Alaskan village. It snows a lot in the winter, too.

We loved having lunch at The Brick, expecting any moment to see bar keep Holling Vincouer or waitress Shelly Tambo asking what we’d like to order. Alas, we had to settle for each other’s company instead. But I swear, in the background noise at the bar, I could hear Chris Stevens, from KBHR (K-Bear) radio’s “Chris in the Morning” show sharing a bit of his philosophical perspective…. “Be open to your dreams, people. Embrace that distant shore. Our mortal journey is over all too soon.”

Beautiful, Gorgeous, Heartbreaking

 

Starbaby goes by lots of names. Mark gave her the nickname FOMO when she was a puppy because she’s always had a “Fear Of Missing Out”. One reason we choose to travel, within the United States in a camper, opposed to any other sort of travel, is because Starbaby can go too. When we began this trip in January, we knew our little dog was ill. I won’t go into the particulars of her illness but a result of her condition, over time, is the development of cataracts that eventually cause blindness. This week we’ve tried to come to terms with the fact that Starbaby has lost all or most of her sight. This latest trial hasn’t changed the fact that she still wants to go wherever we go and do whatever we do. I’ve been so thankful that the eastern side of the North Cascades National Park complex have had an abundance of epic dog friendly hiking trails for our little FOMO. Even though I have to carry her most of the way, she’s not missing out and can still hear, smell and feel all the wildness around her.

North Cascade Scenic Highway

 

Unwilling to say goodbye to the North Cascades, we decided to pull our trailer through the park, on the North Cascade Scenic Highway, to see what was on the other side. What a good choice that was. The drive was spectacular and the mountains continued to awe and inspire us. When we came down from Washington Pass we stopped in a small community called Mazama for coffee and second breakfast, thanks to a recommendation from our friend, Joyce.

We then passed through the western-themed town of Winthrop on our way to Pearrygin State Park where we planned to spend the week. Winthrop is an unusual place with a population of about 400. It underwent a westernization makeover, in the early 1970’s, after learning travelers would begin driving through the town daily, upon the completion of Highway 20, connecting western and eastern Washington. To encourage travelers to stop, the town opted to put up Old West facades, dig up the sidewalks and put in wooden boardwalks.  Each downtown business was required to contribute $2000 to the westernization effort. Two restaurants and a hotel refused to participate in the project so the local Kiwanis Club bought out those businesses to achieve 100% participation. Soon after the project was completed a local businessman recalled, “We went from a town that was about hunting, fishing and farmers to one with thousands of people who wanted souvenirs…quite a culture shock.”

The photo I’ve posted came from a newspaper article, in 1973, showing the change after westernization occurred. I’m not sure how the hunting, fishing and farming have fared in Winthrop, over the last fifty years, but the tourism trade is definitely thriving.