Showing posts with label Tour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tour. Show all posts

February 16, 2020

Israel 2020: Day 7


Today, we went to the Kotel (Holy Western Wall) in Jerusalem. 

We went on a special tour of the Kotel Tunnels.

Got to see the foundation stones under the Temple Mount where legend has it that G-d created the world from and where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac.

This is also the place where the first and second Jewish temples stood.

We literally got to see so much of the ancient underground building stones, pillars, arches, bridges, waterways, and even learned how they think that these mega limestones (weighing over 520 metric tonnes) were moved into place so many thousands of years ago with pulleys, gears, and levers. 

It was a fascinating and fun tour. 

Thank you to my son-in-law and daughter for getting us tickets to this. 

Lovely time by all. ;-)

(Credit Video: Andy Blumenthal, and sorry about turning it sideways once it gets to the underground waterway) 
Share/Save/Bookmark

May 31, 2018

Trace Amounts of Cocaine

So this is a funny story from today.

I had a wonderful opportunity to tour a couple of labs at NIST today.

One of them does work in contraband detection.

The scientist asks if anyone has any money in their wallet.

I pull out a dollar and hand it to him.

I ask him what happens if he finds any traces of bad stuff on the money from me.

He says, "A cage will fall from the ceiling" and I'll be in big trouble.

Uh, we all laugh a little.

He unfolds the money and puts it into the machine that looks for the contraband.

Oh sh*t, it comes up in the "red"--positive for cocaine.

Someone else says jokingly, "A little leftover from the weekend?"

I joke back, "Na, It's from this morning before work!"

Ha, ha, I think. 

It turns out the scientist explains that 90% of our currency actually tests positive for cocaine

I'm wondering whether this is a commentary on drug use and even the opioid epidemic in America.

The lab director explains a theory that the automated money counters spread traces of the drugs from bills and contaminates the other currency.

Aside from this little experiment today, I got to learn so much about creating standards for contraband detection systems and equipment and in another lab about magnetism. 

It is unbelievable how smart these scientists are--they are so unique and of the best in the world.

I am so happy to be able to learn from them even if it's contraband on money. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Share/Save/Bookmark

October 5, 2014

Got To Be A Caveman

So this was an awesome caveman experience.

We had seen a sign a number of weeks ago from the highway for Crystal Grottoes Caverns.

Today, we decided to try it out, and made the trip to Boonsboro!

I wasn't expecting much, since I had heard a lot about Luray Caverns in Virginia, but never anything about this one in Maryland. 

Well we were really pleasantly surprised.

Half an hour tour underground through a literal maze of caves filled with the densest formation of stalactites (hanging from the ceiling) and stalagmites (springing from the floor). 

These things grow only like a centimeter every 150 years, so when we saw literally countless that were meters long, we were really looking at thousands of years history. 

Incredibly, these beautiful mineral rock formations come into being from water seeping through the limestone a drop at a time, and we saw rocks sparkling with crystals, and in shapes ranging from hands to turtles and much more. 

The guide even showed us a special place (almost like a chamber) where a number of couples had gotten married down there...sort of an appropriate place to tie the knot ever so tight in those caves. 

It was also nice that we had our own tour guide for this thing, and that made this all the more interesting to ask questions and really get to see everything. 

At one point, the guide suddenly shut the electricity in the caves, and we were left in complete and utter darkness...it was so surreal and sort of scary, but peaceful to be in a complete void. 

The guide explained that if you were down in the blackness for 6 or 7 months, you would actually go blind from not using your eyes whatsoever. 

Overall, it's sort of a oxymoron, but we just felt so alive down there...breathing this super pure and clean oxygen (no real carbon dioxide down there, because basically nothing grows there) and the cave is this marvelous perfect 54 degrees all year round.

The owner is third generation and you can tell that he truly loves owning this precious jewel of a cavern, and he meticulously cares for it and continues to expand and improve the spectacle. 

However, from a business perspective, I definitely don't think he has took advantage or capitalized on this priceless property.

There were basically no concessions (except that you could buy some samples of the rock from a single display case under the front counter), and there was no cross-selling of t-shirts, pins, posters, hay rides, animal petting, hiking, boating, or food stands!

We took some (as in like 20) brochures from the owner on the way out to give out at Rebecca's school (especially, since she is taking Environmental Science this year), but this guy otherwise doesn't seem to even advertise. 

This place was a hidden underground gem...50 feet down underground, but no Starbucks. ;-)
Share/Save/Bookmark