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Wendover historic airfield
One of the unexpected surprises of our Utah-Idaho trip, we toured the historic airfield at Wendover, Utah. At one time, it was among the busiest air bases in the country.
We stopped by because it became home to the secret squadron tasked with training to drop the atomic bomb—an important objective in our quest to see the major sites of the Manhattan Project.
The museum was worth a visit, but not a must-do. Instead, I’d recommend the “behind the scenes tour,” which is the same price but loads more interesting. I won’t get into all the details here, but the base was responsible for a number of important facets of the last phase of the Manhattan Project: successfully preparing to actually drop the bomb.
The museum
The airfield tour
This tour was a bus tour to various important buildings on the edge of the tarmac. We toured a large hanger, a fire station that had once been the bombardier training facility, and the vault building where the all-important Norden Bombsights were securely stored.
The best part of the tour was that each of the participants was given a “role.” Jen, for instance, was the navigator and I was the bombardier; others were the pilot, co-pilot, gunner, etc. Then throughout the tour, the docent would explain each of our roles and even have us role-play particular aspects of the mission.
The Enola Gay Hanger
Of course the highlight of tour, for us, was the Enola Gay hanger, which was being used by some young cadets at the time of our visit. Tibbet’s office was on the second floor on the south side of the building; they’re currently renovating it. We also visited the bomb pits where they loaded the bombs onto the B-29s (we saw the corresponding ones in Tinian).
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A few shots from Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. We needed to get into the primitive BLM-managed portion for Jen’s Treasured Places quest, then boogied on up to Yellowstone, so none of the classic shots from the NPS side of things. 🏷️25.06B
I finally stopped by the Parowan Gap petroglyphs on my drive yesterday. Pretty interesting site, significantly enhanced by the gap itself. Worth a short visit if you’re driving I-15 in southern Utah. 🏷️25.06B
Here’s the final map of the trip (dark green are new counties visited, light green are repeats). Still surprised we ended up in Yellowstone and Grand Teton while getting everything else done but Golden Spike NHS. 🏷️25.06B
Here’s 20 seconds of zen watching the Colorado River relentlessly tumble towards the Grand Canyon.
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Decided that I needed to dip my toes in the Colorado River before heading home. 🏷️25.06B
A scenic drive through the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway—one of the best in the National Parks System. 🏷️25.06B
Is this a gorilla? 🏷️25.06B
Tonight’s night sky on the Kaibab Plateau. 🏷️25.06B
Kind surprised it’s taken me so long to stop at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon, but finally made it happen. 🏷️25.06B
My morning bumping around the Wasatch Range.
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Always make sure to apply your sunscreen evenly. 🏷️25.06B
I also managed to visit two unvisited counties I had “orphaned” in Utah—Sanpete and Rich—officially completing the state. I’ve now finished 11 states and sit at 2110/3144 total counties on my quest.
(Dark green: newly completed; light green: revisits on this trip; blue: previously visited) 🏷️25.06B
Marked off Utah on my State Capitol Building quest. Now at 46/50. 🏷️25.06B
We enjoyed our unexpected scenic drives through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks yesterday. A short visit, for sure, but always worth stopping in whenever and for however long you can. 🏷️25.06B
And we also got to visit with some of our ASU football tailgating friends and check out their amazing new house in the Teton Valley, featuring great views of the western side of the Tetons. 🏷️25.06B
We got to visit some of our favorite parkchat friends, which was really great. 🏷️25.06B
It’s time for Jen to fly home, but first a celebratory beverage for an excellent and productive four day weekend away. After dropping her off at the airport in a few minutes, I’ll start making my way home, camping a couple times along the way. Really enjoyed this trip! 🏷️25.06B
Watch your step 🏷️25.06B
📍 Lemmon Falls, ID 🏷️ 25.06B
