Posts

Showing posts from December 14, 2014

Wyoming and Idaho

Image
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...
Image
Angie and I are back from New Orleans. We had a good time. I needed to spend some Delta Airline Dollars by the end of the year and ensure I met the threshold for their loyalty program in miles. It appears I have purchased a new plane, a 1/4 share in it anyway. It's a beauty. It's all pretty exciting.
Angie and I went to see the Atlanta Premiere of "Antarctica --A year on Ice" At this point, I have only seen the movie once. I will need to see it multiple times. It was not disappointing. It was very familiar, of course. Anthony Powell did a nice job of getting some of the right people in the film rather than the usual camera frame grabbers that appear in Antarctica documentaries. I was pleased to see my best friend from the ice (Dave Voorhees) in several shots including on the summit of Mt Terror. We have been discussing the film via email. I also worked with "Josh" the mechanic. He has the ITASE patch on his shoulder in one shot. I have one of those patches as well for my part regarding the International Trans-Antarctica Scientific Expedition. Most of the other folks in the film I was familiar with as well. Anthony did a great job showing what life is like, and of course, I would have had my slant on things. For example, I would have expanded on the "rebirt...