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...
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Whoo Hoo!. I am getting a trip to pole. (We don't often say South Pole since it is pretty much redundant). I will getting a week long visit at pole filling in for a tech who will be on R&R for a week. Sometime between 1-15 and 1-20 I will be heading down there. It will be good to see the differences between mactown and the brand new South Pole Station. I will see the dome before it gets shipped back to the states and ends up as a mueseum or a bar... or both.

I took this pic in the dry valleys a while back. Critters just get lost I guess, really lost. This is many many miles from the sea.

I went to another session of cruise ship tour guide school today. We may get a couple of ships in January.

I do miss being home for Christmas. It was choice, a tough one. I am here. The thing I don't miss is all the BS and hype about Christmas from the advertisers and all the stress and all that. There is none of it. The holiday is a lot easier to appreciate as a solitude and a personal event rather that a "made for TV" peer-pressure *not really* competitive buying frenzy it is back in the states. Give me a break already. We have a town Chistmas party in the Heavy Shop this coming Saturday night. They pull all the equipment out and wash the floor real nice. I bet you can hardly tell it is very busy heavy equipment garage. I bet you can hardly smell the diesel and gear lube.

I am headed over to Scott Base tonight as something different. Work is kind of slow. We are working on problems and fixing stuff but the consequence/fixability ratios are getting close to unity.

I have a bunch of small presents that Bonnie has shipped to me to open on Sunday.

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