IDAHO! or...as Paul likes to say...Udaho....

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First stop: Nat-soo-pah hot springs. It's a large natural hot spring which was directed into a huge concrete swimming pool, spa and hot soak tub. Think public pool, except it's warmer than body temperature and the water is green due to the iron pyrite (fools gold) that the water flows through underground before it feeds into the pool. They even had a water slide. And it was perfect timing; we had been in the mood to go swimming for a couple of weeks.

Then, twin falls, where beautiful waterfalls cascade into a canyon just north of the hot springs in the town of Twin Falls. It's also a site for one of Evil Knevil's jumps, which he actually aborted. We're not sure if it was because of the distance over the canyon or weather or what, but the ramp's still there!

On our way to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming we passed through Craters of the Moon National Monument, which is this huge tract of land that's BLACK! it's craggy and dead looking, though we're assured there is wildlife living there. It was all caused by lava flows underground that rose to teh surface. Crazy Place....

And then once we left we drove past Atomic City, where atomic power was first used and the first nuclear power plant was created. You can tell how experimental the whole idea was by the vast desolation all around. Except for the tiny town of Arco, which was the first town powered by nuclear technology. It's a cute little place that has one tradition that we photographed; every year since 1921 the graduating classes have climbed up the cliff and painted their years on the side of the rock. You can see it from miles away, and we even stopped and asked someone what the numbers were. The woman proudly told us, and proclaimed that she was with her class up there when they painted their year on the cliffs.

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