Happy Birthday Korey

Today is our youngest son Korey's 37th birthday. Where does the time go??? He has to work today. Since we are staying at the campground where he works, he will be able to stop by for a visit this afternoon.

We left Yuma on June 17th with temperatures around 116 degrees. The heat stayed with us through Arizona and New Mexico. Finally, it got cooler in Colorado. Since we've been in Nebraska, it has been quite humid with temps in the 80s and quite a bit of rain. Hopefully, we won't get stuck again at the campground like we did last fall. 

When we travel from Yuma to the Midwest, our first stop is usually Homolovi State Park in Winslow, Arizona. For years, I have seen the sign for the Meteor Crater attraction. This year we decided to finally go take a look. It is privately owned, and was $18 each for seniors. There is a very nice visitor center. Included in the price was a guided tour of the rim, a movie about what caused the crater, a museum, and a 4D movie geared towards kids. 

We went early to avoid the heat. Our guide was very informative, and we walked about 1/4 mile along a paved path to see and learn about the crater. Originally, it was believed this huge hole was a volcano vent. In 1902, Daniel Barringer, a Philadelphia mining engineer, came to the site and was convinced it was caused by the impact of a large iron meteorite. He spent years digging and mining beneath the site, hoping to find a huge deposit of iron. What he didn't realize, was that the impact was so massive, that the meteorite was pretty much pulverized on impact. The site still belongs to the Barringer family.

It is estimated the impact happened about 50,000 years ago, and that the meteorite was about 150 feet wide weighing several hundred thousand tons. It was traveling at a speed of 26,000 miles per hour, and struck the earth with the force of 20 million tons of TNT. That's enough dynamite to fill railroad cars stretched from California to New York. The crater is about a mile wide and 700 feet deep. Chunks of the meteorite have been found miles away. In this picture, you can see a boulder on the rim at the far side of the crater near the middle of the photo. That rock is the size of a two story house.

At the bottom of the crater there is still debris from previous mining operations. NASA used the site for astronaut training. There is a six foot cutout of an astronaut and an American flag attached to a fence at the bottom. You cannot see if from the top without zooming in. This is a picture using the 30x zoom function of my camera. To better understand the size of the crater, imagine that you could fit 20 football fields at the bottom and have seats for 2 million spectators observing from the sides. It's massive!!

Here's a view from the top of a viewing platform outside the visitor center.

It was an interesting visit, and now I don't have to wonder about it every time we drive past the signs!!

Saturday we spent the afternoon brewing beer with Korey and Cathryn. This year's selection is a Belgium Saison. 

Korey orders the beer kits from Amazon. This recipe was considered intermediate, so they were very careful to follow the directions to a tee. Here they are adding some ingredients. I was in charge of picture taking and did some stirring.

After the beer is done cooking, you have to cool it down quickly. The first year we used an ice bath, but that took a long time and a lot of ice. The next year Korey had purchased a copper cooling coil that goes in the pot with a hose attached to it. The water runs through the coils and cools the beer down quite quickly. Remy, the dog, was enjoying slurping the water from the hose. We had to keep him away at first, because the water was quite hot at the beginning.

Saturday evening we went to dinner for Korey's birthday. He chose a place called Fireworks in Lincoln. We had a great time, and it was so nice to be able to go out again without wearing masks.

We're leaving Lincoln on Wednesday, spending one night in Amana, Iowa, and arriving in Wisconsin on July 1st. It will be great to see our Wisconsin friends and relatives again. Hopefully, it won't be so humid. We're used to dry heat now that we spend most of the year in Arizona. 

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!