Decided to take a trip to Boron and see the Borax Mine! The original idea was to drive out there and then go see Randsburg as well, but it was so stinkin' cold and cloudy. Yikes! I can take 35 degrees when the sun is shining, but this was not walking around outside weather.
These boys love the road. Good thing too, because they have spent a LOT of time in that back seat.
We made it! It looks strange going up to this huge mining operation, but there is an awesome visitor center there and it is totally worth the trip. It's the biggest open pit mine in the United States.
The docent working there was awesome. She has lived there her whole life. Her Dad came to work the mine when it was still underground in the 50's. The Visitor Center explains all about the operation and what they mine there, where it all goes, and what people use it for. It was very interesting. The money that the Visitor Center makes goes to help people in the town. They support Little League teams and give scholarships to kids going to college, things like that.
This was my favorite thing, microscopes set up to look at different "borates".
This model kind of bugged Tom, not enough information about what it did. It had a name on it, but no details.
The next sign cleared it up a little, but not enough so he had to try to find someone that knew more about it. No such luck.
This was the highlight of the place though. They were dying to get out there and climb on this huge tire. Personally, I thought I might freeze to death just getting a picture of them on it, but they were having a blast.
They were trying to get Dad to get inside it too.
The pit! It's huge! The boys were using their new iPod Touches to take panorama pictures of the spot.
The next stop was the Twenty Mule Team Museum in town. There was a lot to look at there and the docent there was eager to share everything he knew about the place. He was a little annoying, but he was in such earnest to show us everything we had to encourage him. It was fun!There was a video playing about how they drove the mules. Turning corners was hilarious! I wanted to buy the video.
Dan found a dry washer and a bunch of old mining equipment.
And they even had Prince Albert in a can!
There was an air museum next door with a more interesting stuff related to Edwards Air Base.
And on the way home the clouds really looked menacing against Big Bear. It was snowing a bit when we got home, but not enough to stick to the ground. We went to the Mexican place in town for dinner and it took us over an hour to get our food and it wasn't even busy. That place is crazy.
It was a great way to end the year!
