Out and about: field trip to the limestone mine

My entire family — all six of us — took a field trip today. To the center of the earth. OK, about 425 ft below surface.

Before we went, I snapped a few things from the tent.

who radio
overview of the limestone mine — the foreground has a kiddie pool of rocks where kids could  find and keep a fossil. the table to the left appeared to be a science fair exhibit related to the fossils from rockford.
ir cam
‘g’ of gain’s face. the IR cam is used to quickly survey the status of electrical boxes in the mine.

 

martin marietta
look at the size of the wires and light bulb! a few square miles under the surface of the earth is mined, 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. and they need power and light!

We couldn’t go last time this tour was offered because the minimum age is 10, and ‘i’ of gain wouldn’t have been able to go. About 40 employees from other mines came to help run the 6 bus tour for the public. An ENORMOUS tent with many employees and volunteers from other groups helped educate us about the mine, mining and careers, geology, and the Manson impact. WHO Radio, Martin Marietta, and all limestone producers definitely got our attention today.