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...

I am home. I have a lot of catching up to do. The dark at night is nice.

I was asked what the sounds of Antarctica are like. In McMurdo there is always noices of machinery. The helos warming up and taking off (right next to our shop), The power plant generators, although equipped with large mufflers drone on 24/7. You are also hear diesels 24 hours a day and back up alarmas as materials, snow, or earth get moved around. The wind is continuous. The wind noise is almost aways cutting through the other noices. Out in the field noise is totally different. It is so quiet. It is so incrediblely quiet. You can year a helicopter 30 or 40 miles away. On the polar plateu the sound carries fairly well. The ice is just like dense strofoam. It squeaks like styrofoam and sounds bounce of it (and transmits vibrations) just like stryofoam.

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Wyoming and Idaho