Craters of the Moon, Idaho, from the NASA Space Shuttle

You boys that pick flowers, and strawberries, near the ground, run away from here, a cold snake lurks in the grass. — Virgil, The Eclogues

I went to Craters of the Moon with Ryan last week, a surreal landscape shaped from slithering lava rising out of “the Great Rift,” now a vast stretch of scaly encrusted black.

Right now I’m watching the news on the mass shooting in Las Vegas. What will stop this firepower? And what sort of warped country will it leave in its wake?

BCBG Generation black & tan snake-print flap dress with built-in black spandex miniskirt – $8.95, Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store | Frye ‘Sacha Moto’ black leather shooties – $100 (MSRP: $278), Bombshell Salon‘s Head to Boots Fall Make-Up Event («the next one is THIS SATURDAY, and it’s a bad-ass party to celebrate the 5th b-day of Bombshell Salon, come! Get cheap-ass new Frye Boots!)Ryan marvels at the oddity of native Idaho creatures. Featuring, at upper right, the real moon.

Cheep it up to the moon and back.