One Small Step for Mark & Sue, One Giant Leap for the Future

One giant leap for the future...

With one small step we hopped into the Toyota 4Runner. We sat buckled into our seats, pressed the automatic switch on the windshield visor to close the garage door. 

3-2-1, Blast off! 

We backed down the driveway from our Texas home and headed northwest. This is the first in a series of iterations that will see us travel from Texas to Washington and back again in the process of moving permanently to The Pilchuck, our home in rural Washington.

We had booked a hotel room for two nights in Denver at the request of a friend of Sue's who wanted us to visit her and tour the town. Her friend stopped communicating with us via text as we approached Denver. Hmm. Mysterious radio silence. What could this mean?

Still no communication after we checked in. 

Eventually, Sue received an early morning cryptic text mentioning a mishap, a tentative rescheduling of our brunch date that morning (after being stood up and missing dinner with her). Later in the morning a brief statement that she was not going to be able to meet us for brunch. Then the story unfolded to include an ER hospital visit, "Sorry it didn't work out," she texts.

759 Claremont St., Denver CO
Our home when we got married
in 1986.

What to think? We had many scenarios, no real answers.

Plan B. We revisit our old Denver neighborhood where we lived when we got married in 1986. 

Sundial Park
Our old neighborhood

We called a friend from our Denver Days in the mid-1980's and had margaritas and great conversation with her. Enjoy the journey, we salvaged our time in Denver. It was a good day after all.

Day 4 out of Texas we landed in Lava Hot Springs, a small hamlet in southeast Idaho that perches on the Port Neuf River and above a thermal hot springs. Our hotel had an outdoor pool fed by thermal, scent-free, waters which we used to rejuvenate our traveling muscles after following the Oregon Trail across all of Wyoming earlier that day.

In the morning I suggested a spontaneous reroute; "What if we detoured to Craters of the Moon National Monument today? We have this fascinating volcanic wasteland on our sightseeing list, so maybe we cross it off the list right now since we're already in Idaho. So close, what d'ya think?"

"I'm not opposed," say Sue - her strange way of saying I like the idea. 

CRATERS OF THE MOON

National Volcanic Monument

Sue crosses a 2 million year old basalt flow
on the boardwalk

A passionate explanation of 
magma chambers and violent volcanism -
from a girl who knows

We spent all morning and late into the afternoon, exploring, discussing and debating calderas while imagining what this landscape looked like when it was glowing with molten rock. We were thrilled to immerse ourselves into this fantastic landscape which some pioneers termed, "black vomit" as they tried to get around it with their horse drawn wagons.

Lava rolled into rope-like structures called pahoehoe - fascinating rocks!
 

"Blue Dragon" sheen and other weathered colors
displayed by these geologically recent volcanics

Sue stands ready to ascend a prominent black cinder cone

View from the top of the cinder cone

Mark scans the distant horizon from the crest of the cinder cone

Strong wind gusts and backing UV rays leave tangle hair and 
crispy skin for Sue to remember her day at high elevation atop the cinder cone

Glorious day to climb a towering pile of once molten ash!

Sue peers deep into the fiery belly of the earth 
from the rim of a spatter cone 

Spatter cone rim

An expansive explanation of volcanism from a 
gal who has a master's degree in Volcanos

Ready to descend into a large lava tube cave
created by a river of flowing molten lava

High sky from underground

Mark rests on a rubble pile inside the lava tube cave

Sue looks for a way out of the subterranean chamber.
We found a way to scrabble up a pile of collapsed roof rock
and out onto the desolate lava field and back to our 4Runner.
 

We stopped at the Visitor's Center to reread about what we had seen and the ages of the eruptions surrounding us. We were headed across Idaho, cut across the NE corner of Oregon and into Eastern Washington, crossing over Snoqualmie Pass and into the Pacific temperate forest. I opened the gate to our house a 2 AM.

What a day.

What an adventure.

Enjoy the Journey!