In the 1950s, the US Army fell in love with nuclear weapons, and began building them by the hundreds. Each new design feature had to be tested, and to do that, the US selected a patch of desert not very far from Las Vegas (it was not uncommon to see mushroom clouds from the casinos … More National Atomic Testing Museum, Las Vegas

Also known as “Sin City” Also known as “Lost Wages”. Also known as “The House that Bugsy Siegel Built”. You can tell within ten minutes that this city is based on sin. There are casinos everywhere you look, video poker games in everything from the gas stations to the pizza places, and I couldn’t walk 20 feet … More Greetings from Las Vegas

I stumbled across this gem entirely by accident—it is located behind a rest stop on I-15 that I just happened to stop to pee in. 🙂 It is the site of a lava flow about 4100 years ago. The lava was thick and ropy, a lot like that from Hawaii. It was not an explosive … More Hells Half Acre Trail, Idaho

The Montana Grizzly Encounter is a nonprofit rescue center at Bozeman MT that takes in grizzly bears that cannot be released to the wild. There are currently five bears at the center. Here are some photos from a visit to the center. The gift shop/visitor center The outdoors enclosure. The bears spend most of their … More Montana Grizzly Encounter

The Tinsley Living History farm is located on the grounds of the Museum of the Rockies, It recreates a typical Montana homestead of 1890. The farmhouse The vegetable garden Hops for making beer The house is made from split logs chinked with mud The well Wood-burning stove Icebox Living room Chicken coop Outhouse Barn Pasture … More Tinsley Living History Farm

The Museum of Computers and Robotics, in Bozeman MT, is a place where you can let your geekdom run rampant. Although it’s a small museum, it manages to pack an awful lot of interesting history inside, from the Babylonians to WW2 to the Space Race to Woz and Jobs. Here are some photos from a visit. … More The Museum of Computers and Robotics

Oplontis was a small town near Pompeii, Italy. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, Oplontis was buried in volcanic ash, along with Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was only recently been excavated. Some of the artifacts that have been recovered are on display at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman MT. Reconstruction of part … More Museum of the Rockies Pt 3, Oplontis

Although it’s the dinosaurs that everyone comes to the Museum of the Rockies to see, there’s a lot more to see at the museum. Here are some photos from the non-paleontology part of the museum. (There is a large section of Native American history at the museum, but alas photography was not permitted in that … More Museum of the Rockies Pt 2, the Non-Dinosaur History

The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman MT is one of the premiere dinosaur museums in the world. Most of the specimens here were collected in the area. Here are some photos from a day in the dino exhibits. The museum A Tenontosaurus skeleton with a number of broken-off Deinonychus teeth next to it “Big … More Museum of the Rockies Pt 1, the Dinosaurs

Some photos from the Gallatin County History Museum. I love these little local museums. The museum is housed in the old jail The gallows. The condemned stood on the little platform, which then dropped out from under him. One of the jail cells Bricked-in hole in the jail wall made during an escape attempt Artifacts … More Gallatin County History Museum