Wyoming and Idaho

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We are back from a quick vacation. I managed to score three (actually several more) bucket list items in 4 days. 1.) Long Snowmobile Trip. 2.) Yellowstone Park and 3.) Wyoming. I reached my 50th State --Wyoming! And we took a 90 mile snowmobile trip in Yellowstone National Park. We went to the "Craters of the Moon--National Monument and Preserve" in Idaho and also stopped at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) where I got to see (with my own eyes) the very cool nuclear powered twin turbojet engine. It was a successful experiment in the 1950s and 1960s. https://whatisnuclear.com/safety-minutes/htre-3-meltdown.html Of course, I had my Radiacode scintillation detector with me and yes, the apparatus is "Hot". The screenshot of the readings from my three walk-arounds the artifact. I swear you could smell the radiation. There was a very un-natural burnt smell something reminiscent of burned bakelite. Although, I am quite certain the emitted radition was not the source...

Today was an exciting day. I seem to have a lot of those here. We flew up to Mt. Terror (12,000 feet) today. We tried to land three times... and it was time to go home. Mt. Terror is named after an early exploring ship. It was not named after any modern-day attribute. We remind ourselves of that fact frequently. My high altitude training comes into play in very practical ways. I learned a lot in that class and other classes in a short amount of time. Me and my co-workers often do the helo flight pre-briefs as a group discussion kind of thing now, each of us sharing and being moderated by the helo techs who really do the briefs. I took about 300 pictures today. I will post some close ups of Mt. Erebus since I got a bunch as we flew by.

I went to a great science lecture the other night by Allan Allsworth. He is a very experienced explorer whom I met early in the season. He has been out in the field fossil hunting and just returned to town. He brought the latest fossils from the dry valleys. It is very impressive. These fossils are all very exciting. Every single one of them.

This is a pic of blood falls near lake Bonney. It is red from the minerals (Iron). It is pretty from the air. I did not take this pic. I snagged it from our common drive here on station. I do have a pic or two in my collection but only from the air.

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