Day 10: Craters of the Moon National Monument and Idaho Falls, Idaho

Fun Fact #1: I slept until 10 a.m. today.
Fun Fact #2: I saw a Drive Thru Subway for the first time. Who knew such a thing existed? And who would ever go through a Drive Thru Subway? That's just ridiculous. I want to personally witness them mistakenly add black olives to my sandwich so that I can yell at them face to face.
Fun Fact #3: Arco, Idaho sits atop a dormant volcano waiting to erupt within the next 1,000 years.

Click HERE to see photos from Day 10.

Day 10 began with an unrequested wake up call at 7:45 a.m. I've never wanted to axe murder a prerecorded message more in my life. By the grace of God, we slept until 10 a.m. anyway. Once fully awake, I did a Mapquest search to see if there was anything worth seeing on the way to Idaho Falls and found the Craters of the Moon National Monument. Since this is the trip of ballparks and national parks, we decided to add it to the itinerary. It's not a well known park, but it was well worth the visit as can be seen here: Craters of the Moon is over 1,100 square miles (over 750,000 acres) or roughly the size of Rhode Island. It was formed by volcanic eruptions that started only 15,000 years ago (or maybe 6,000 depending on your denomination) with the most recent activity occurring 2,100 years ago. Geologists believe that the volcanoes will again become active within the next 1,000 years. I say we camp out and wait for it to happen. Who's with me?

We left Craters and drove through several thunderstorms, which rinsed the topmost layer of insect carcasses off of Indy Car 2007, which might have been the "green guts" layer. No big deal though. There are still at least nine layers left beneath that one. It's Joseph's amazing multi-colored dream coat of splattered bug guts, if you will.

We arrived at the Fairfield Inn Idaho Falls and the woman checking us in asked if we were going to the game. I guess the baseball jersey and hat I was sporting were pretty solid clues. It's amazing that she picked up on them. When I affirmed that we would, indeed, be attending the game, she gave me free tickets, which made me feel slightly guilty for the previously mentioned sarcasm. Anyway, that's another savings of $12!

Remember our great experience from Day 9 in Boise? You know, where we met Todd, the President/GM of the Hawks, and he showered us with great seats, food and a baseball? When he heard we were heading to Idaho Falls next, he told us to ask for the Chukars' GM. So we did. This guy gave us the pat on the head and said, "That's really cool. Have fun tonight. See you later." He didn't spit in my face or kick me in the shins, but he wasn't the most welcoming guy and really didn't give a rat's buttocks we were on a 5,000 mile road trip to see his team. I felt even better that we didn't pay for the tickets. Take that Mr. GM. It just goes to show that Todd from Boise was in a league all by himself.

They did have a new stadium that was very nice for a rookie league team and it was near capacity for a Monday night. They also have, quite possibly, the scariest looking mascot ever and nobody seems to know his name. It's a Chukar - a quail-like bird that Idahoans seem to like to hunt down and kill by the dozens. I didn't think it was possible to make a bird costume look this menacing, but they somehow managed. See the photo if you don't believe me.

Anyway, with the rain today, we weren't sure the game would happen and the shower before the game added to our worry a bit. However, it quickly passed and the game started promptly at 7:15.

Then all hell broke loose.

On the first pitch, the Chukars pitcher nailed the Raptors batter and complete and utter mayhem ensued. I, being quick on the draw with no off button on the genius switch, began filming the bench clearing brawl that unfolded before us. It's already been posted on YouTube and I've embedded it here for your viewing pleasure.
Notice the pile of bodies and flailing fists within the first 30 seconds or so. Nice, huh? Good family entertainment. Listen to the fans egging them on like they are at Monday Night RAW.

After ten minutes or so, the umpires cleared the field and took some time to make sense of the chaos and disorder. About 25 minutes later, nine players and the Raptors pitching coach had been ejected and escorted from the field. The game picked up where it left off, but as you could imagine, with drastically different lineups. Julia's score book looked like a three-fingered chimpanzee played dyslexic sudoku with a #2 pencil.

I kept the camera around my neck like a super dorky tourist for the entire game in case pandemonium erupted again. Alas none did, but I did my usual scouting the crowd for fun photos of joy, which can be seen HERE.

Next stop: Day 11 in Preston, Idaho (home of Napoleon Dynamite) and Ogden, Utah.