Classic Larsen Adventuring!

Well, since Eric finished his internship April 4th and starts classes up again on April 29th, we have a few weeks to play! I have to admit I've had my moments of jealous yearning reading all of your blogs filled with trips to exotic places, camping adventures, and even just time together! Eric's been working long days and long weeks and it's been nice to be with my parents to keep from getting lonely or stressed--but now it's our time to relax and play! Not to mention our CRUISE! NEXT WEEK!!!

So, here's a snap shot into some of our recent adventures:

Last Wednesday we drove 2 hours down past Tucson to the Titan Missile Museum, where the government had 18 nuclear missile sites during the cold war. They made a deal with the Russians to keep one mostly intact (with the top of the silo permanently fixed half way open) to preserve as a museum. It was incredible! Even Scotty was pretty entertained. Eric had to wear a hard hat because he's over 5'10"--came in handy because he did bump his head! The huge chunk of metal on your right is just part of the engine--since these missiles were never actually fired in war (they call it "Peace By Deterrence", they were put to good use by NASA getting space shuttles on their way. I was especially impressed by the security controls--makes sense as each missile had the power to destroy so much and after the launch sequence was initiated it could not be stopped; it would be at its destination within 30 minutes. The thruster engine here actually has this intense butterfly lock on it that prevented the oxidizer from mixing with the fuel (yay chemistry!) unless the correct 6 character code was inputted in the control room--and a wrong code would cause the joint to weld shut, rendering the entire system inoperable until fixed by a crew of mechanics.This is the missile itself, with a nuclear reactor equivalent to a cargo-train full of TNT reaching from Tucson to Kentucky (not including engine or caboose). YIKES. I guess in this case, chemistry=death.

Because it's so powerful, the entire system has built in vibration isolators and acoustic deadening to prevent the missile from vibrating itself apart during launch. All of the wiring has 13 inches of slack to allow this vibration; the control room and walkway are completely isolated--by a foot gap of air at the end of the floor, and gigantic 16 inch coil springs.

During the cold war, each missile complex was manned 24 hours a day by four air force crew members, and was actually the first combat position open for women. In actuality, it was probably the safest place in the world, as the entire complex is buried underground the enclosed by 8 foot thick blast doors...if a nuclear weapon was launched at the US, unless it hit within 1.5 miles of that spot, the people inside would have likely been the only survivors.

I got to be the commander, and with the help of our guide, we launched the missile at "Target 2". The process is similar to all those submarine movies about launching torpedos: coded messages, two keys turned simultaneously, etc. Interestingly, the pentagon has never released the location information for these targets even to the air force, so no one knows where their weapon would have been sent.












To give you an idea of how big this missile really is, the lettering down the side actually says US Air Force. This part of the silo was also used to film parts of Star Trek: First Contact.


From the ground level, this is all you see of the entire complex including the missile chamber, the control room, and the crew's quarters and connecting walkways. Try locating THAT from a satellite...

In a somewhat less morbid or dramatic outing, we took Scotty to his first baseball game! After three strikes (haha....err) at getting to a Spring Training game, we opted to just buy tickets to a Diamondbacks game after the season started. Great game, and Scotty loved the people watching and the people behind us; everything except the fireworks. He can pull himself up, crawl, and walk himself along things, so he had a good time standing behind me on my chair and charming the people behind us. We did have to move him a few times, as the cup holders are right there and that cup of beer was apparently so tempting...;o) yikes! We did manage to keep him completely sober.
Ok, he looks a little Magoo in some of these, but I wanted to show of his little Diamondbacks outfit that we found at the DI last week for $2...Dad and Eric most appreciated the $14 million LCD jumbo-tron. And of course, the DBacks stomped the Rockies 8-3, which means free food! Everytime the Dbacks score at least 8 runs in a home game, they give free chalupa coupons to everyone there! (It's Supa! It's Dupa! You get a free Chalupa! and no, I'm not making that rhyme up...) We also got free 10 year anniversary shirts.

Also in the family news this week, our remodeling project here at my parents' house is almost complete, look for pictures coming! We also had two swarms of Africanized killer bees appear on our patio last Thursday, but I didn't dare get close enough for any decent pictures! We paid the professionals $400 to remove the approximately 1800 bees that arrive in a swarm and burrow their way into your walls/roofs/columns....yikes!!! Scotty is also 8 months, so of COURSE I have pictures I'll add someday soon of him. Also, we had our dog Tess put to sleep on April 3rd after a wonderful 13 years, so I'm making a little compilation of happy memories to pass around to all who knew her. She was the only dog we ever had and was the sweetest creature I've ever known. We miss her company but it was time, and I'm grateful we got to have her as long as we did.

Well, that wraps up a VERY long post for me! Tune in next time, same bat time, same bat channel.