The Field Trip

Teresa and I have returned from our field trip to Hanford and the Tri-cities area. This was a science oriented trip and we visited various scientific sites. Our first stop was the CHREST museum.There we learned about the history of the Hanford plant that made plutonium during WWII and about Lewis and Clark. (Not that they were particularly related mind you.)

Next was a stop at L.I.G.O.
The LIGO acronym stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, whose mission is to observe gravitational waves of cosmic origin. There we did an exercise determining the distance of various stars in three different constellations. And had an explanation and tour of the tubes that house the lasers and mirrors. The tubes extend 2.5 miles in two directions and are vacuum sealed. Their website is found at http://www.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/

The next day we went to the Energy Northwest nuclear power plant and had a tour. Their website is http://www.energy-northwest.com/gen/cgs/

From there we went to the Energy Northwest’s wind project where we learned about their 49 windmills. Each windmill is over 300 ft tall. We went inside the base of one and they are huge. See more at http://www.energy-northwest.com/gen/ninecanyon/index.html

We hooked up with families from Liberty Christian School for dinner and a basketball game and spent the night with host families from the school. All in all it was a good trip.

Love Jan