On our way out of the desert, we passed a nuclear energy research facility, so we stopped for a quick peek at the museum. You can only imagine how dry the tour guide was in the minds of elementary students, so we snuck away from the guided tour and had fun exploring on our own.
Their favorite spot was a replica of the robotic manipulation arms used fifty years ago when scientists needed to move radioactive materials. They were given challenges to solve and puzzles to put together, so we hung around this spot quite a bit. Super fun!
They also loved the mini replica of a control room, where there were oodles of buttons to push and dials to spin.
We drove for ages across the desert as we headed to our next stop, West Yellowstone.
We will be camping in a tent here for ten days while we study the environment and geology. As we checked in at the campground office, we were informed that grizzlies have been visiting our campground in the past few days. They have just come out of hibernation and are ravenously hungry, so they are eager to find food no matter where it is kept.
That makes for a pretty good bedtime story, right? That was the moment I remembered we hadn't yet purchased pepper spray. So, after dinner we were sure to head into town for a can of spray!
Dinner was cheddar potato soup and rolls. We are using dehydrated soup mixes during this trip, so all we have to do is add boiling water from our handy Jetboil stove. It makes dinner prep pretty straightforward. The children have gotten very good at setting up the tent, so its a quick process now.
The night temperatures reportedly drop below freezing even at this time of year,so we have all bundled up in layers of all our warm clothing. And I confess, I also packed along an electric heating pad as backup in case our layers and blankets are not enough.
We are armed with plenty of cocoa mix and hot cereal for the morning, so I am optimistic about facing the cold in the morning.
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