Iron Range Vacation: Day 4 - rainy day

[dreamshark]

We really didn't mind when we woke up on Tuesday to a dreary all day rain. We'd been vacationing pretty strenuously up to that point, and a day without biking or swimming didn't sound so bad. I've been trying to see the Tower-Soudan Mine for over 20 years, but have never managed to get there in time for the last tour of the day. I finally made it, and had a great time.

Remember how proud Mountain Iron is about being the first mine on the range? What they neglected to mention is that they were just the first on the Mesabi Range. The Soudan mine, on the Vermilion Range, had about a 10-year jump on them. I now know that plus a ton of other fun facts, like how long it takes to drop half a mile into the earth inside a 100-year-old miner's cage, and why iron mining is so much safer than coal mining (except for the hearing loss), and why the mine bosses made a point of integrating the mining teams, and why they shut down the mine with untold tons of high-grade ore still left in it. But the most amazing thing was how much the inside of a 19th-century iron mine looks like a modern first person shooter. Holy crap, there is even a top-secret physics lab down there on the 27th level!! It really is Black Mesa! I forgot to bring my camera for the underground portion of the tour, so you don't get to see the view from the ore car that looks exactly like the point I quit playing Half Life 1 because I couldn't find my way out of the endless miles of mining tunnel. But the pictures I took on the upper level are almost as much fun. Some sights really do look better in the rain.

	The Soudan Minehead in the rain OMG, I am SO in the middle of a Half Life game! I'm watching those towers for guards with sniper rifles.
	The engine room at Soudan Mine. More Half Life sets. I'm gonna check under all the over-sized steampunk equipment for spare med kits and ammunition, and then I'm up that ladder!
	Half a mile of cable that lowers the miners' cage and the motor that runs it up and down And doesn't that look like a button that needs pushing right in the middle of the bright red ring? Probably opens a big metal door someplace. Either that or it blows something up.
	The old ore-crushing shed I think I've been here before, too. I'll bet there's a grungy iron staircase close by leading into the bowels of the facility.
	Grungy iron staircase leading down into the bowels of the crusher facility I knew it!
	Looking out the rain-streaked window in the bowels of the crusher facility Is that a giant ant lion out there at the edge of the sandy patch? Or maybe an armored vehicle full of trigger-happy guards?
	Looking into the maw of the crusher machinery Maybe it's not Half Life. This is starting to look like the wrecked aircraft carrier in Far Cry.
	More crusher shed No, it's Half Life. I just wonder where they're keeping all the huge wooden crates with ammo and supplies hidden inside.
	Richard holding up a giant iron spanner that was left in the crusher shed And isn't this just the kind of tool you hope to find early in a game like this? I'm gonna find us some big wooden crates to bash open!

Comments

Strange...

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

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Re: Strange...

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Let's see if mine does!

K. [PS: you are hilarious]