Our recent day trip to Bataan Nuclear Power Plant

Greg was off last Friday so we took all 3 kids out of school and drove to Bataan-took about 5 1/2 hours to get there (more on our stop later) and 4 1/2 hours to get home with a stop for dinner and Friday night traffic.  It was a great day trip.  Below are some pictures from the trip there

 Baguio is a city much farther north in the Philippines

 There was a lot of bridge and road construction

 carabao beside the road

 beautiful scenery

 Sign below says World War 2 First Line of Defense Monument

 The reason it took us longer to get there was that Ashley got carsick on the road about 2 1/2 hours from home.  Thankfully we found a gas station, bought paper towels, got some extra water, and bought her a t-shirt that became her "new green dress" that she got to wear for the rest of the day!

We had been wanting to visit this nuclear power plant and they allow tours in hopes of teaching about nuclear power and its safety and efficiency and how it would help the Philippines need for more energy sources.  It is fully functional but has NEVER run-which is why it is safe to tour-because of fear of safety issues after the Chernobyl nuclear accident

 

 This pipe is so big around that our hands didn't meet with all 5 of us stretching around it!

 The air lock you go through before seeing the reactor-no they do not close you in

 The crane that goes out over the reactor-thought it was VERY cool that the tour guide let us climb on it

 The reactor itself

 Ryan closed the air lock door

 The plants control room

One VERY large turbine


 view out of the plant window

 We visited the beach there too and we just had to put our toes in the water for a few minutes!

 We also visited the Pawikan Conservation Center nearby.  People from here go out at night and dig up turtle eggs after the mother lays them and returns to the ocean.  They bring them back to the conservation center and place them in a sand nest, care for the babies when they hatch, and then return the babies to the ocean. 

 We got to see 3 larger turtles (all bigger than dinner plates) in this turtle shaped pond

 The boys are looking at a large model of the life cycle of the turtle

 Scott and Ryan are in the nesting area

 egg shells from the 74 baby turtles that they released the night before we came!!!!  We were sad not to get to see any of the baby turtles but they gather eggs and release babies at night to give added protection from predators

 They told us we could pet the turtles just to keep hands away from their mouths

 The silver bowl is a bowl of fish they brought out for the kids to feed to the turtles

 Greg helping Ashley feel one of the turtle flippers

 On the way back to Manila-below is rice that has been harvested drying on the road

You never know what you might see on the road

 a nipa hut with chickens, a dog, and a couple of children in front of it