Craters of the Moon

 We spent a few days with daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids in Ketchum.  It is a beautiful place, near Sun Valley.  It is a small town surrounded by mountains and ski lifts.

 

 

Yes, it is a county of billionaires and thus the only place you will see Biden signs in abundance.  As a friend's brother-in-law made rich by a disk drive startup explained his decision to vote for Clinton in 1992, "I'm rich enough to afford higher taxes."  My friend's response was, "I'm not."

 

The trees are turning, of course.  It is not Vermont, but still pretty.

 

We visited the Ernest Hemingway grave (on which admirers leave small whiskey bottles).  Oddly, no shotgun shells, or African big game.

 

The marker is remarkably ordinary.  (My phone was dead and I left the Canon in the car.)  There is a memorial to him north of Sun Valley:

This river nearby is just gorgeous in looks and sound.

Craters of the Moon was only an hour away, instead of the three hour trip from Boise so we went down to it.  It was the first time for my daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids.  It is aptly named, one of the few recent fissure eruptions where the ground splits open and lava comes out.  There are a few cinder cones and spatter cones.

 

My wife noticed some bluish patches which appeared to be peacock ore along with native copper and gold.  Since I hand around a peacock ore sample in Western Civ and she first figured out what it was, I feel a bit silly.