On our first full day in Las Vegas, Dean and I hoofed it off-strip to the Atomic Testing Museum. Like most right-thinking people, I am terrified of nuclear weapons… but that fear is matched by fascination. We loved this place! It’s chock full of information on the Nevada Test Site and the history of the A-bomb, as well as cases of artifacts and interactive exhibits. You can actually experience a simulated blast (our butts were rattled and our eyes were bugged out!).

Cold War propaganda and some nifty test site badges (PJ Turner looks pretty cool, right?).

Fallout Family

The cross-section of a cable bundle, about the thickness of a tree trunk.

Winding up an explosion forward, backwards, and in slow motion

A still from A Is For Atom, a 1950s informational film by General Electric. Check out Element Town where an anthropomorphic Radium gets crazy dance legs. This may be my new favorite animated movie.

A tour guide at a different museum told us, ‘Vegas families would pack picnics and watch the mushroom clouds. It was an attraction; we made lemonade out of our lemons.’