We left Tulare headed over to get Kings County checked off my list, having never touched it before. (I neglected to note that we'd also gone through Fresno County on Day One, but didn't catch a photo of the sign) Then we headed south towards our hotel in the Pasadena area (Rosemead) to get rested up for our big Sunday morning visit to Explore the JPL!
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| Mundane, but then, I live far from civilization. Fill your water jugs here. |
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| We spent several hours just chillin' at Pyramid Lake on the Grapevine before we head into the Scrum of L.A. traffic. |
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| It's a really big lake, and we saw lots of fun water-craft. |
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| The police boat goes back out after it towed a boat back to the marina |
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| Eek, a wildfire as we approach Burbank! |
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| Left it behind, thankfully, |
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| The traffic on our side actually flowed, whereas the opposite direction was slowed for miles by the wildfire. |
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| We're here! Fresh, and ready for our Explore! So pumped! |
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| Mission Control!!! We visited this last year, but had to do it again. The Cassini Specialist is no longer there. |
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| At the Mission Control Building - The Center of the Universe. |
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| Talking to Michael Garret (look him up!) and Benjamin about the Mars Rovers they helped design, build, and operate. Oh my, not even Paul McCartney could make my heart beat faster. (well.....) |
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| Opportunity model. One of my heroes! I am hoping the real Opportunity weathers the sand storm on Mars. |
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| These folks (Jeffery included) acted as the Mars Mountains so the little rover could roll over them and show its stuff to us. |
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| This young lady is ready for her future! |
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| Holding a meteor (not a real one). We actually did get to hold a metal meteorite, which was super cool. |
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| This lady's son touched the static electricity ball, and she touched him, and her hair flew up in a crown over her head. |
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| Jeffery sticks his finger into the electric shock device |
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| The host of this booth was thrilled that we had seen the film "Europa Report", as it made it easier to explain the mission to us. Exciting! |
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| Jupiter model |
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| The Juno Spacecraft, which flies large oblong orbits around Jupiter because it can't stay in the planet's radiation belts for very long without suffering damage. It is already sending home lots of exciting information. |
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| This is Athena |
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| Here's some info about her |
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| The Moon Diver dives into deep places to see what's down there |
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| This simple display explained Dark Matter and Dark Energy to us laymen |
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| Curiosity Rover model for our viewing pleasure. |
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| Mars Insight Lander, designed to study the interior of Mars. Launched this past May, it's due to land on Mars this coming November!!! |
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| Another tiny rover |
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| Goodbye, JPL campus! We had such a great time here, once again. |
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| A strange out-cropping of rock bids us farewell as we head east, then north toward San Bernadino County, another county visited. |
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