We met at Tallene’s house and then drove out to EBR-1. When we arrived we took the guided tour and learned how a Nuclear Reactor is built and what it looks like. A fun fact was that in 1951 the first electricity generated at EBR-I illuminated four light bulbs. Here is a quote from the pamphlet, “On Dec. 20, 1951, EBR-I became the first power plant to produce usable electricity using atomic energy. After that day until decommissioning in 1964, EBR-I generated enough electricity to supply all the power for its own building whenever the reactor operated.”
We then headed to Craters of the Moon to explore. Our first stop was the visitor’s center to get a map and find out how the kids could be Junior Explorers. They were each given a booklet where they had to complete different activities. At this time they were doing a special space explorer program. Our first stop was this large hill that we climbed, “Inferno Cone.” We all started out fine but, by about half way up we were all struggling to get up. The view from up top was nice.
View of the "Spatter Cones" from "Inferno Cone"
Then we headed down and thought we would get a little break before the next stop. It turned out to be about a 2 min car ride. We walked to the “Spatter Cones” where there are two miniature volcanoes that you can look inside.
Then we headed to the caves area. At 1pm there was going to be a guided hike of the caves, so we thought we would see what that was about. The guided tour took us to the easiest cave “Indian Tunnel.” The guide stopped along the trail and gave us some interesting facts and information about the lava, animal, and plant life.
“Indian Tunnel” is the easiest because there was only a short walk where a flash light was needed and it was tall so we didn’t need to duck. After the tour was done we continued to “Beauty Cave.” It was the farthest away but, we were told the next easiest for kids. This cave was a lot smaller and much darker. We then decided to try “Boy Scout Cave” on the way out. This cave was definitely harder but, a lot more fun. It was dark and there was still ice in the cave. When we were the only ones in there we turned off all our lights and boy was it dark. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face.
Inside the caves.
Junior Space Rangers (Bobby was asleep).
We then headed to the car to go home. Just outside of IF we stopped by “17 Mile Cave.” When we got close to the cave it smelled smoky. We came across some cold fire pits in the cave but, the further we went the smokier it became. We then decided it was better to leave.
We all headed home to get pizza and end the night with a movie at our house. A fun day to end the summer. Oh, by the way, it was over 95 degrees in the sun and we did a lot of walking. The caves were nice and cool.
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