We decided to take the kids on a trip to the moon.......Craters of the Moon, that is. We got up bright and early and were on the road by 6:30 am (yes, can you believe it!!!). We got there around 9:30 and ate some lunch then went on our adventure.
This was the first place we stopped at. It is one of the splatter cones. The kids had fun looking into it. There was a little chipmunk climbing around in there. The kids thought that was pretty cool.
Look at the acres and acres of lava!!! It was pretty crazy.
These next few pictures are on the trail to the caves. The kids were so excited about the caves. This was toward the end of our adventure there, so it was starting to get hot. Thank goodness the kids were smart and grabbed their water to drink on the walk there.
These pictures (above and below) are of collapsed lava tubes. Some were pretty deep.
We are closer to the caves!!!!
Going down into the Indian Tunnel. It was nice and cool in there!
There were some pretty cool rocks in the tunnel. You could walk all the way though and come out another hole by climbing up some rocks.
After our fun 3 hour adventure on the moon we went to the world's first nuclear power plant!
That was a lot of fun.
Here is Cordell teaching the kids about how it works.
The controls look so ancient!
The above picture are the fuel rods that they would put into the reactor to heat up the water. Isaac is standing on top the reactor.
They had this fun interactive thing for the kids to play with. This was how the workers would handle the radioactive materials. Isaac was really good at using the robotic arms to pick stuff up and put it where he wanted it.
Having fun with the lead gloves
This is the reflector repair room (below).
The kids had fun playing with the Geiger counter (below). The closer it got to the radioactive metal, the more clicks you could hear. It makes a clicking noise for every piece of radiation it detects.
They had a simulation room for the kids to play in. The kids had a ton of fun in there. They could have spent an hour or two in there alone.
When you first walk in they have a living room from the 1950's. They had a TV that was from then with a video telling you about nuclear energy. It was really fun!
We then went to Idaho Falls to show the kids more of the beautiful waterfalls that Idaho has to offer.
After Idaho Falls we decided to take a detour and go through Soda Springs.
We walked around the area with the geyser. It was pretty neat.
We waited for about 30 minutes and were able to see the geyser go off. It went so high!
Cordell was telling us about a spring that his dad and grandpa would go to all the time and dip their mugs in and get some water from. We drove a little ways from the geyser and found it. There was a sign saying that you could dip in and get a drink. As you can see, they were all brave and tried a sip.
We brought home a bottle of the spring water. When we got it from the spring it was clear, but the next day it was full of metal sediment. Nobody got sick from their little taste of the natural spring water :)
We had a great time on our little road trip. It is always fun to just get in the car and drive to fun places and explore them. It's a good thing we trained the kids when they were little to enjoy going for long drives in the car :)
