You too can dig mammoth bones!

I'm putting up some pictures from this morning's activities while the kids are swimming at Evan's Plunge, a covered, recreational pool built over, and fed by, a hot spring. 5000 gallons of water flows in and out of the pool per minute! It is outfitted with slides, floating toys, basketball hoops, and most popular - 5 steel rings suspended and widely spaced over the pool that they try to swing from, ring to ring, to the other side of the pool. (Just about all of our kids have tried them, but Steven and Rashaad have been attempting them without stop now for over two and one-half hours. I predict they will not be able to lift their arms above their shoulders in the morning!) Look for pictures of this tomorrow.

Below- the mammoth site here in Hot Springs is an active, working dig site that has been going on since the 70's when the first evidence of the bones was discovered while excavating for an apartment complex. Years ago, they simply had a tent over it, but now they've built the building around and over the site. There are so many bones sticking out of the ground that you would think it was fake, if you didn't know better!

First - Will W. and Mrs. Alcorn are examining a cast from a bone while our guide narrates a tour along the ramp overlooking the site. Next, one of several workers painstakingly works on an area - the workers are mostly volunteers, either from Elderhostel or Earth Watch. Anyone can volunteer, within certain guidelines.

A lower level area is a working laboratory with windows so that visitors can look in from the hallway, and an intercom system so you can talk to the workers as they go about their business. (Kind of felt weird talking through the glass - like a prison!) This lady moved over to a bench near the window to work on a big leg bone and gave our kids a great opportunity to observe up close and ask questions.