We had a sleep-in and then packed up our apartment. The place had served us well for the few days we had been in Vegas:
Our first stop was the Atomic Museum. I had wanted to go there, but was worried the kids would get bored as it was very scienced-based. Then they found out it had Fallout theming so they were all in.
The Nevada National Security Site 105km nw of Vegas had been the site of many nuclear tests between 1951 and 1992 (928 tests total) and the mushroom clouds had been easily visible from Los Vegas. The casino and hotel owners were originally concerned that this would drive away holidaymakers and gamblers, but instead it became a tourist attraction, with people arriving with the aim of seeing the tests. Initially the tests were done above ground, but after the Limited Test Ban in 1963 the tests were conducted underground.
The Atomic museum details the history of the Manhattan Project, the atomic bombing of Japan and the nuclear testing.
 |
| A model of "The Gadget" the world's first detonated nuclear device |
 |
| Uranite from the Congo |
 |
| The Japanese surrender from WW II |
 |
| Fat Man bomb - see below |
 |
| Trinitite that formed on the desert floor after the explosion |
 |
| Uranium glass under UV Backlight |
 |
| The kids playing one of the science games |
 |
| Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet (1956) |
 |
| A range of atomic themed items produced in the excitement around the development of the atomic bomb |
 |
| Cutaway of a Test rocket |
 |
| Ballistic / Tactical Nuke - see below |
 |
| This name tag was etched by covering the wood with a stencil and exposing it to a nuclear explosion. |
 |
| Mushroom cloud behind the Golden Nugget |
 |
| Test instruments - see below |
 |
| B-53 Thermonuclear weapon - see below |
 |
| B57 Bomb - see below |
It was really interesting, but quite heavy. This was lightened up at the end with the Fallout display:
 |
| Power Armour Helmet |
 |
| Dog Tags |
 |
| Lucky 38 chips used in the Fallout series |
 |
Deathclaw!
|
There was also a treasure hunt to find Fallout themed items throughout the museum. If you found them all you received a gift - either an atomic themed gumball or a Fallout/Atomic Museum bottlecap:
We had one more stop before we left Vegas and that was Red Rock Canyon.
Red Rock is a national conservation area with red rock formations, sandstone peaks and 910m high walls from thrust faults. This includes the Keystone Thrust – a system of thrust faults extending from Nevada to Canada. Thrust faults are caused when one crust plate is driven over another).
The canyon is situation on the easternmost part of Mojave desert and is home to 600 species of plant including Joshua Trees, Mojave Yuccas, Creosotes, Agaves and Blackbrushes, as well as animals such as wild burros, rabbits squirrels, bighorn sheep, desert tortoises and red spotted toads.
The are was an ocean basin 600 million years ago and the limey sediments formed limestone.
250 million years ago the tectonic shift caused marine shale and sandstone to push through. A layer of salt and gypsum then formed from evaporation.
180 million years ago the climate changed and the area became desert with sand dunes dunes, and this was cemented with calcium carbonate and iron oxides to form Aztec Sandstone.
66 million years ago the Keystone Thrust fault developed and forced the land upwards forming the cliffs and ridges.
The rocks in the area have a distinct red colour from oxidation of iron in the sediments.
This area featured as the home of the Great Khans in Fallout: New Vegas.
We started at the visitor centre:
 |
| Heading into the Canyon |
 |
| If you look really carefully, there is a desert tortoise in there.. |
Next stop was the Calico 1 stop - which featured the red rocks and a viewing point. It was the start of several hiking trails (4-15km long), but in 38 degree heat we weren't going to be hiking anywhere.
 |
| Rock climbers |
Next was Calico II, which showed off the Calico Hills:
The next stop for us was the High Point Overlook - at elevation of 1.5km above sea level:
Next was the White Rock Trailhead and the Willow Spring area, which is famous for a Petroglyph wall with art from 800 years ago:
From there, we had a number of overlook stops on our way out of the park:
After leaving Red Rock Canyon we received a number of GPS notifications that there was a major crash on the main road and there were significant delays. Cameron had hoped to make it back to LA in time to catch a Linkin Park pop-up shop where the bank members were doing signings, but our 3 hour drive blew out to almost 6 hours due to the accident and we didn't get back until close to 9pm.
We did make one stop on the way, at Alien Fresh Jerky:
 |
| 102F is 39C |
I got a few photos on the way home, but none show the congestion that we got stuck in:
I mentioned earlier that there was a flood in Vegas a few weeks after we left, Red Rock flooded also:
Tara had cooked dinner, so we had a quick meal and then headed to bed because we had a big day planned for our last full day in the US.
No comments:
Post a Comment