During breakfast (made-to-order breakfast burrito and cantaloupe, yum) Rob discovered that the Manhattan Project
National Historical Park is closed on Thursdays! Good thing we got up at 6am.
Fortunately, we allowed two days in Santa Fe so we can visit tomorrow. We decided to drive to Los Alamos anyway to visit the Bradbury Science Museum and have lunch in town
afterwards. If we had time, we'd drive to nearby Bandelier National Monument since today's temps at 54 degrees should be higher than tomorrow's.
Since the museum didn't open until 10am, back in our room we watched most of the YouTube documentary recommended during our admission to the alien museum yesterday titled, "2021 UFO Phenomenon." It wasn't very convincing as the same blurry and pixelated "footage" purportedly from radar was shown repeatedly without any context or proof that what was being shown was actually an alien aircraft. It seemed to be a means for the British journalist to promote his book on the topic...imagine that.
Around 9:15 we left for the museum taking 85 North down the mountain to 502 West. The drive was scenic with dramatic mesas.
We arrived a bit after 10am. The museum is free and has exhibits
on the Manhattan Project, the atom bomb components, and a room
dedicated to the Los Alamos National Laboratory's current work
involving various sciences, nano-tech, computer tech, and biology.
Shortly after arriving we discovered that a big group of middle schoolers were already there on a field trip. After they watched the 20-minute introductory movie, the docent called us over and started it just for our private (and quiet) viewing. It
was well done and educated us on the making of the city, the people who worked there,
and the building and testing of the bomb.
This is an armored still camera used to photograph the implosion experiments. The camera had to not only accurately photograph the implosion, it also had to survive it. The Manhattan Project developed a significant amount of specialized measuring devices as part of the process of creating the "Gadget" (the code word for the bomb).
This is one of the 35mm cameras used to document the Trinity test, the first ignition of the plutonium bomb.
A mock-up of the Criticality experiment. Two accidents (one in 1944 and one in 1945) resulted in the death of two scientists and several others being exposed to large amounts of radiation. The result of these accidents shaped safety protocols on handling radioactive materials and the experiments using those materials.
A scale replica of the implosion plutonium bomb.
An example of the "Fat Man" detonation system. It sat on one end of the bomb casing (the protrusion on the right side of the above bomb replica). It was vital that all the detonators went off at the exact same time so that the plutonium core was compressed equally from all sides and at a sufficient enough speed to reach criticality.
After looking at the exhibits, Michele noticed a yarn shop cooperative just across the road so we went in for a look around. Michele found a shop sample she liked so she bought the two yarns and buttons used in the pattern. It was now Noon, so we walked two blocks to lunch at the Blue Window Bistro. It was very busy and we waited 20 minutes for a table. We shared a Cubano sandwich and fries.
Since we were doing well on time today, we drove 20 minutes to Bandelier National Monument. Michele discovered this park while looking in our National Parks passport book and was intrigued by the name. The area called the Frijoles Canyon was lived in and farmed by Ancestral Pueblo people for 400 years, from about 1100-1500. They built multi-story villages out of rock and used the rock face to carve out rooms and caves. We arrived around 2pm.
The park is named after pioneering anthropologist and historian Adolph Bandelier who in the 1880s came to the New Mexico Territory with the goal of studying and documenting American Indian groups. He lived among them and traveled extensively. His work established the foundation for much of modern southwestern archeology. The scenery was amazing!
On the NPS app we followed the self-guided tour of the Pueblo Loop Trail. Michele narrated during our 2-mile walk along the trail. We learned about the kiva structures used for important gatherings and religious ceremonies. These structures are similar to the structures at Mesa Verde, CO. A series of large poles were placed across the opening and topped with dirt/mud to form a floor. A small opening was left in the roof for entry down into the structure via a ladder.
We saw the foundation remains of the villages.
The
highlight was walking up a ladder into the carved dwellings. Michele
said the people who lived here weren't 5 foot 8 inch chicks as we had to
duck inside.
Further down we saw petroglyphs (carved). This one looks like a bird.
The NPS app's narrative claimed that this one was a macaw. Rob thought it was probably one of the less talented petrographer's attempt of their pet lizard (note the bridle across the nose area) since it is unlikely these folks had ever seen a macaw...unless the alien showed them pictures...hmmm.
We finished around 3:45pm, happy to have seen this amazing place and for the nice weather. We headed back to Santa Fe, about 30 minutes away and saw snow capped mountains.
We arrived back at our hotel at 5pm. Michele ordered pizza, salad and cheesecake from Il Vicino, and we walked two blocks in town to pick it up.
Rob said the weather forecast shows us being one day behind the cold weather snap, so once we reach Texas (where it was 9 degrees this morning), it will be in the 50s.
Tomorrow we will return to Los Alamos to visit the Manhattan Project site exhibits, and hopefully have time to explore Historic Santa Fe.
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