I would "oh okay" and "yeah yeah" and "hmmm, really?" to all her waxing lyrical about it. Its just another mountain right?... right? Well no, not really. Its a big mountain. Its a big mountain with no top. Its a big mountain with no top, no middle either and a huge, HUGE deep DEEP lake of the purest blue filling its explosivly removed heart.
Seeing it on a sunny day like we did was a stroke of genius on my behalf, and great planning, as shadows play across the rim and the sun strikes deep into the depths of the lake.
There's a lovely road that travels right around the rim of the crater providing amazing views... my favourite, interestingly enough, was not into the canyon but away from it, to the north. A huge forest expanding out towards the horizon with the occasional starry dollop of rock in the form of a huge and craggy mountain. The spaces out here are huge... and for the first time they *feel* huge. Here is the America of my childhood imagination writ large in the font of the U.S. State Parks Service and painted with the pallette of an old episode of Lassie...
We camped nearby, as I'm a cheap bastard at heart and didn't want to shell out $250US for a room for the night in an amazing lodge up on the crater rim... I almost regret that... but the fun the kids had identifying all the different types of biting insects at the campground more than made up for it.
I also made a stunning discovery - our car has *sattelite radio*! Its amazing! Now I can do the whole road trip never having to change CDs again as I've found the station of my dreams... all 80's all the time 24/7 everywhere in the US. The only downside is it seem so be interrupted by any passing planes, cars, telegraph poles, trees lights, buildings or excessive road markings...
