Smoke Jumpers and Spokane

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Our next stop was down in Missoula, Montana. Missoula is the home of a Smoke Jumper Depot...which means its a base for the fire fighters that parachute out of airplanes to put out forest and wild fires. The tour was awesome! It was led by a former smoke jumper, and we got to see the entire facility. It was a refreshing change from just looking at dioramas and replicas...about 6 jumpers came in from a drop while we were standing in their locker room. Crazy!

There are actually about 22 forest fires raging right now, mostly throughout that particular region...but there are some as far south as Riverside, CA. We learned a lot about what it takes to jump into fires, how they put them out, what they bring with them on the jump, and what they do in the off season. They actually manufacture all of their gear, from their jump suits to their packs, in a little room off of their lock room that's full of sewing machines. They also have their parachutes inspected either every time they're opened or every 90 days, whichever comes first. This is done in this awesome loft area covered in dangling caribeeners on ropes, where the chute is hoisted. The whole thing was awesome, and comes highly recommended by us!!

Our very last stop on the trip was Spokane, Washington. Spokane has an awesome park right downtown on the river. In this park are a few cool things, like an old wooden carousel, and old clocktower that is the only thing remaining from the gigantic trainyards that used to be the lifeblood of the, and a GIANT radio flyer wagon that has a slide down the handle. This was a lot fo fun, and a great last stop for our trip. It was someplace beautiful, historical, and best of all, kitchy fun!

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Comments

[Ellen]

WOW . . . I thought you two had shrunk for a second there!