A good portion of Idaho has an arid climate with a whole lot of nothing going on. No towns, no houses, no nothing. Then, in the midst of this nothing, is a lot of barren black rock. Some of it is smooth and ropey and some of it is sharp and jagged, but most of it is void of any vegetation. It’s evocative of hell with all of the damned out to lunch, but to early travelers it conjured up ideas of a lunar landscape. Officially it’s called Craters of the Moon National Monument. It was created by lava flows that oozed from cracks, rather than your typical spewing molten lava explosion. It’s really quite arresting. Leave it to up to Mother Nature for some crafty xeriscaping in the middle of nowhere.

Idaho is a nice enough place, but we decided that we wouldn’t want to have to live here. While there’s a lot of beauty to take in and some fun to be had, I don’t think you can rightfully call any part of Idaho thrilling. In an attempt to oust that notion, we made the trek to Boise, billed as the hippest city in Idaho. While it is pretty stylish for this state, it’s no player in the game of hipness across our nation. That’s alright. It’s somehow reassuring to know that the place we get our taters from is no fancier than they are.