[Note: This blog is about the American Museum for Computers and Robotics. The museum extols the wonder of modern day computing. However, I am so frustrated right now with my inability to upload photos in the proper place in this blog, that I am ready to open the RV door and smash my laptop on the ground. So, take the blog with a grain of salt and without photos.]
We woke up this morning to clouds and the hint of rain coming soon. It was our first cloudy day in a long time-- definitely cooler than we’ve been having for weeks. We packed up our stuff and, after a nice breakfast in the same restaurant area that we ate last night, we went back to the RV and hooked up the Jeep again. Then we retraced our steps from yesterday, going back toward Bozeman.
We were juggling several things this morning. We wanted to see two museums here in town-- one was open only from noon to 4pm, and other is open all day. We also needed to figure out where we would stay, and hopefully that place would have good wifi so we could work out arrangements for tomorrow--at 5:30 pm local time, we want to tune in to the MSU-Western Michigan football game, and we are hoping that being in a metropolitan area would facilitate that.
I made an “executive decision” to go to a very expensive RV park for tonight. The main reason (besides the hope of wifi) was that it is affiliated with, and located immediately adjacent, to Bozeman Hot Springs Spa. This facility has 12 pools which are fed by natural springs, and which range in temperature from 59 to 106 degrees. The expensive price for the RV park includes admission to the Hot Springs, which brought the cost down to what is still the most expensive price we’ve paid so far this trip. But I didn’t have the energy to call all the other private RV parks in Bozeman, many of which will be just about as expensive without the handy hot pools next door.
Once that decision was made, and the reservation called in, we went directly to the American Computer and Robotics Museum. I heard about this a number of years ago, and it seemed right up Joe’s alley. It is a non-profit organization, only open from noon to 4pm, and is free (donations are accepted, of course.) We found the location, right near the campus of Montana State University (another MSU!) In the course of driving there, we saw that the Museum of the Rockies only a block or two away--but there were signs indicating that the main road we were on would be closed tomorrow. Uh oh, a football game! (Wrong MSU!)
So, forewarned is fore-armed, I guess! In any case, today’s goal was the Computer Museum. We were early there (it was only about 11:30), so we walked the dog, did some tidying up, and had some lunch. Then we went to the museum.
It was a VERY interesting place, just packed with unique items. I had thought it would be more Joey’s realm of interest, but it began with the concept of early attempts at communicating knowledge, including a cuneiform brick from Mesopotamia, early printed books (with a replica of the Gutenberg Press), and a hand-written Bible page from the 12th century or thereabouts. Then it segued into early discoveries in the field of electricity, with items such as a telephone switchboard and early wooden telephones.
The displays moved from there quickly into the electronic age, with examples and original items moving from the early basics upon which computing was based, to the inventions and computing innovations by people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. There was an original Apple ciruit board signed by Steve Wozniack, and a lot of items of that era. Really, it seems that personal computing was the direct result of science geeks like Joe (and just our age, too!) who desperately wanted their own computers. Until then, computers were enormous, expensive, and owned only at research facilities such as universities. These guys wanted their OWN computer that they could do whatever they wanted with! And so they build them from scratch, figured out how to write programming, and got together with math geeks who could work out the formulas needed to make it happen. It seems to me that if Joey had been more interested in computers than in being a doctor, he could have easily been one of these guys.
There were displays of the earliest hand-held calculators, personal assistant devices like the Palm Pilot, the earliest video games and machines, and of course, a big display of the earliest personal computers, like Joe’s Radio Shack TRS-80 (there was a pristine example of that in the museum, and the entire display reminded me horrifyingly of our basement!) There was a big display of how Silicon Valley became a place for all these inventions. A local professor encouraged his brightest students to invent things right there, rather than relocating to the big companies in the east, which was the start of the industry in the Silicon Valley area. And there was, of course, the display of those “kids” in their legendary garages, with photos of them from that time (they were all only about 19-22 years old!) Many of the items were donated by the original inventors, some of which were autographed as well.
The museum also had sections on: the space program, and how it contributed to the miniaturization of electronics; the contributions of women to the field; a description of encrption machines and how they became developed further during World War II; and another section on attempts to understand how the brain processes information, in order to facilitate the invention of artificial intelligence, robotics (both to replace mechanical actions as well as to communicate); and a tribute to the Apollo missions to the moon, with a display of one of the actual computers used during that space mission. All in all, the museum was a very intimate presentation of the field of computing, and how it has become important in every aspect of life. I think we were there easily for a couple of hours.
By the time we left, I personally was really tired. The very light misty drizzle was still in the air, but just as we reached our RV, it started to rain for real. All I wanted was a nap! So we drove right to the RV park, pulled into our space, quickly hooked up to the water and electricity, and with the sound of the rain on the roof (which I always think makes napping so delicious), we crawled into bed and fell sound asleep!
Somewhere at around 5pm, we semi-woke up, and realized that if we wanted to go to the hot pools, it was time! I had seen online that the place was closed from “sundown Friday to sundown Saturday,” and I thought I had found a shomer-Shabbos hot pool! But while I was checking in, I heard the girl at the desk explain to someone that the owners are 7th Day Adventists, and that accounted for the closing. Regardless of why, we had to get over there and soak for a while before 7pm.
So we collected towels, bathing suits, shampoo, and umbrellas--because it was still raining! And then we followed the footpath from the RV park to the Hot Springs. (Of course, our section of the campground was the farthest from the door to the pools!) Once there, we changed and were soon soaking away in a pool that was not quite as hot as ours at home, but was wonderful on achy bodies. The whole place was very nice--the changing rooms were large and included plenty of showers, soap and lotion dispensers, etc. The main building was very large, and had one main pool in the center which was “warm.” On either end of the pool there were several smaller pools of varying temperatures. There were also 3 pools outside, and despite the rain, some folks were in those as well, since they were noticably warmer than the air. In addition to the hot pools, the facility has a sauna and a steam bath, and a fitness center (which I didn’t actually see, but was in the brochure.) Overall, it was a very nice place. I didn’t love it quite as much as I love Lava Hot Springs in Idaho, but it was the same idea in general (with the addition of the fitness center, that is.)
We came back to the RV feeling relaxed and all clean, and after we rested, Joey made some dinner of raz al hanout chicken, and cauliflower. Now I’m writing this, and he’s mostly asleep. Tomorrow we need to figure out how to manipulate our way through the football traffic to the Museum of the Rockies, located right next to the football stadium (whose idea what THAT??) We also have to leave this RV park, because they are full tomorrow. We will probably end up in the Walmart parking lot, unless a better alternative occurs to me.
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