Travel Day #9: Idaho

Staying at the Grizzly RV Park just West of Yellowstone, the boys could
see the high ropes courses of “Yellowstone Aerial Adventures” across the
street. I thought they’d really love that place, and so I’d reserved 5
hours of this day for them to play there. I thought we might also use
the time to see more of Yellowstone, if needed, too. But the boys were
not at all interested in either, so we slept in and decided our first
activity would be to wander into a grocery store for a loaf of bread and
some ground beef. One hundred dollars later, I’d determined that the
“food buying” rate is faster than the “food eating” rate. Yikes. But,
the kids are also having fun buying sodas (called “pop” here) that they
aren’t normally allowed to have at home. We’ve gone through Squirt and
Dr. Pepper, and now we’re on Sunkist.

After jamming our booty into the fridge/freezer in the RV, we headed
over to the only other real attraction I had planned for today: a place
called “Big Gun Fun” whose website advertised and indoor gun range with
weapon rental and individual instruction/supervision for all ages (8 to
80). We were promptly informed, though, that the minimum age is now 12,
which sorely disappointed a certain 11 year old. More than disappointed,
he was quietly furious about it. However, while I had previously thought
this was a pretty unique offering, I had actually spotted similar places
earlier in our travels, so I promised him we’d find some other place. I
stepped outside and quickly found a place in Utah that will allow him to
experience a .22 pistol with supervision. So Mom and I proceeded with
our plans here. We chose a package where we could each shoot a couple of
handguns and a machine gun. Although both of us have shot guns before,
we could each tell that the other was rather nervous, and the fact that
we both had trouble hitting the 25-yard targets was proof enough. I did
score a bulls eye, but I’m sure if we tallied the scores, Mom did better.
Before it was done, we each got to fire off a handful of rounds in full
automatic mode, so… it was the experience we’d hoped for.

After having our fill of the smell of gunpowder, we mounted the RV and
sauntered into Idaho to lunch in the parking lot of the Mesa Falls
visitor center. What a GREAT place! Though we only had 2 hours of
traveling scheduled for the whole day, I had really only put the stop on
the agenda is a minor leg-stretcher. In fact, there was a whole “hands-
on” exhibit in the Inn-turned-visitor-center. We particularly enjoyed the
two-dozen different animal pelts. Now we know why mink coats are so
unpopular – those little critters aren’t much bigger than a mouse! The
Upper and Lower Mesa Falls were awesome; the evidence of the lava flows
25,000 years ago are quite obvious and impressive; and the 2 mile hike
was flat, easy, and filled with a variety of flora. It was a nice visit
at a beautiful spot.

Passing some wonderful Idaho scenery and arriving at the campground
early, Mom whipped up a “Hamburger Helper” dish while I made a small
repair to the window screen next to Sean’s bunk. Then, we closed
ourselves in, turned on the air conditioning, and, for the first time,
all sat at the dinette to eat. Normally, we eat at the campground’s
picnic table, but we were in the direct sun, and it was really cooking
us even though the temperature was only in the mid-eighties. After
diner, Mom and I walked down to the barn at the edge of the campground
where they are preparing for a wedding that will take place the next
day, and then we returned to take in the sunset. We’ve had a stressful
moment here or there, but in all, that sunset has sent 4 very happy
people to bed every night.