Traveling east out of Boise along I-84 can quickly wear on you. The vast expanse of relatively flat fields and open spaces drones on to the sound of your car whizzing along at 80 mph.

I recently found myself driving into the rising sun as the vastness of Idaho’s Snake River Plain bore down as I made my way to Wyoming.

The interstate pulls away from the inviting hills to the east as it curves slightly southward. I decided that it would be far more interesting to drive through those hills along U.S. Highway 20 instead of going around them, knowing that way route passes Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve and at least has some curves in it.

Not only was the way out varied and beautiful, but the monument that sat along the route was worth the extra miles on my already long road trip.

Cones, caves, broken crater

Admittedly, I was hesitant to stop at the park 127 miles east of the I-84 turnoff because we have loads of lava fields in Central Oregon.…