13SEP, Thursday, after a couple of false starts we are underway again. First stop was Legends Indian Casino in Toppenish, WA, where we stayed back on 29APR11. Dan was very disappointed to discover that they now only had $1 video poker machines, so he had nothing to entertain him. But we had been given four $5 coupons for table games, so he took his usual $20 limit for gambling & placed four $5 bets on blackjack & made $30 thanks to the coupons! In addition we had been given two $2 coupons for food purchases; so we bought some foot long heros, that were inexpensive to begin with, to use for tomorrow’s lunch.Friday was a longer than usual drive thru Oregon to overnight in Fruitland, ID. Unfortunately after we hooked-up, some wannabe rapper called Mr Capone-E’s pulled his RV in next to us. Apparently he is some ex-con trying to make it in the rap world. So we were treated to the comings & goings of various unknown individuals, along with the thump/thump of different rap music through most of the night. It was not a restful night!
Saturday, 15SEP, we drove to Arco, ID, to be near Crater of the Moons National Monument & Preserve. After setting up camp Dan took off to take pictures of various “roadside” attractions. Turns out that the majority of the sites are centered around this area being the hub of the Nation’s (primarily the Navy’s) nuclear reactor research & development. Most of the Navy’s propulsion reactors were built in the local area; & as they are decommissioned, they are brought here for long term storage.
In fact, just down the road is the decommissioned site for Emergency Breeder Reactor No. 1, the nation’s first reactor. When it was first started it generated enough power for 4 light bulbs! During the summer you can take a self guided tour, including looking through four feet of glass & oil at the shutdown reactor. Although it was past summer, you can still drive up to the building & take pictures; & in the parking lot are two nuclear powered jet engines! The USA was trying to build a nuclear powered jet bomber until Pres. Kennedy canceled the program. The main problem with the concept was that the jet exhaust would basically be nuclear waste. In fact a giant lead shielded locomotive was needed to move the bomber on the ground, & routine flights could not pass over populated areas!
Other photographed sites were Number Hill where all the high school graduating classes have climbed the hill & painted their class year since the 1920s; Pickle’s Place home of the Atomic Burger; the ghost town of Atomic City; & the conning tower from the nuclear sub HAWKBILL.
That evening was dinner at Pickle’s where Dan had the Atomic Burger. Then it was off to Crater of the Moons National Monument & Preserve for a special star gazing program, where we were treated to a short course on astronomy followed by some star viewing thru a telescope. Since most of us live next to cities, most of have forgotten what a real clear night sky looks like; especially the “cloudiness” of the Milky Way.
Trivia - Why was the HAWKBILL known as the devil’s boat? What town was the first entirely powered by nuclear power?
http://www.inl.gov/ebr/
Sunday was a full day at Crater of the Moons National Monument & Preserve, unique in that it is jointly run by the National Park Service & Bureau Land Management because the first Wilderness Area designated by Congress is part of it. When we pulled into the Visitor Center we ran into the same gentleman who had made the star viewing presentation the night before. He had a special solar telescope setup & we were able to view a solar flare on the surface of the sun! We then entered the Visitor Center to view the educational exhibits & a documentary of Robert Limbert’s hike across the Great Rift.
Most people come to the National Monument expecting to see the “typical” cone shaped mountain volcano or volcanoes. But Crater of the Moons is different in that this giant lava flow was created by what they call the Great Rift. The Rift is over sixty miles long, runs in a south to north direction & erupts every 2000 years (note – we are due now). You may remember that we have been to another Lava Beds National Monument in California, see below BLOG for that visit.
After leaving the visitor center we then drove the Loop Road. During the drive we stopped several times to hike the North Crater Trail, Devils Orchard Trail, & part of the Cave Trail. Dan even tackled the .4 mile, 700 ft vertical climb, of Inferno Cone. This was more strenuous then usual because the entire area was blanketed by smoke from wildfires to the north. At 1PM we went on a Ranger led hike to the Indian Tunnel lava tube. As we have stated many times, these free events are a fantastic way to learn about our national treasures & often allow you access to areas not open to the public. A great day discovering another of the nation’s little known treasures.
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