Day 24 - Manhattan Project Walking Tour and Historic Santa Fe

Since the Manhattan Project Visitor Center in Los Alamos does not open until 10am, we didn't need to rush out this morning. Arriving at breakfast at 8:30am, they were out of orange juice and the hot tea flavor Michele wanted. However, Michele got freshly made breakfast tacos and watermelon, both of which were delicious.

On the road at 9:15am, taking mostly the same route as yesterday towards Los Alamos, we passed the Rio Grande. 

Arriving at the Manhattan Project visitor center, we got our passport book stamp. One of the park volunteers gave us a brief history of the Manhattan Project, the development of the Los Alamos site and the development of the three nuclear weapons that were created. By now we knew most of the history, but this docent was versed in chemistry and physics, so we got a lesson on uranium and plutonium isotopes as well as more information about the area of Los Alamos before, during, and after Project Y (a.k.a. the Manhattan Project). 

The Visitor Center is the launching point for the Manhattan Project Walking Tour. With a map in hand we visited several buildings and former sites of the historic town built to support the Manhattan Project here in Los Alamos. At Ashley Pond, a nice park area next to the visitor center, we saw three white geese.

This was the site of the Los Alamos Ranch School Ice House. The structure was torn down in 1957. Due to its construction and the building's cool interior, it was used by technicians to assemble the core of the test plutonium bomb (a.k.a. the gadget).

One of the things that attracted General Groves to Los Alamos (in addition to its remoteness) was the existence of several structures on the site. These structures would help speed up the logistics of housing the personnel and providing work spaces for them.  

These are sculptures of Oppenheimer and Gen. Groves, who oversaw the technical and military portions of the Manhattan Project as well as the building of the Los Alamos complex. 

Fuller Lodge was the dinning hall for the Los Alamos Ranch School, an elite preparatory school for boys. When the government took over the area, it was used for community activities for lab employees. Michele liked the big Lincoln Log-type columns.

Most of the structures that survive today from Project Y are those that existed from the Los Alamos Ranch School. All but a scant few of the structures built by the military have been removed as they were built very quickly and were only meant to be temporary (in other words, they were built VERY poorly and with VERY few amenities). From the time the military took over the location until the end of WWII, only 28 months had passed.

We visited the Los Alamos History Museum which was a guest house for the Ranch School. It was Gen. Groves' favorite place to stay when he was at Los Alamos. The museum included exhibits that spoke about the history of the Los Alamos location before, during, and after Project Y.

By now it was near noon-time, so we walked over to the same Blue Window Bistro as yesterday. We shared a roast chicken croissant sandwich with fries.

With our hunger now satisfied, we continued our walking tour of historic sites. We walked down Bathtub Row to see some of the homes where the more senior officials (like Oppenheimer) stayed. These houses again were all existing structures from the Ranch School and were the only houses in Los Alamos during Project Y that had bathtubs. Bathtubs during the time of WWII were made of cast iron and this material was needed for the war effort. Housing built as part of Project Y only had showers. 

This house is named the Hans Bethe House.

Bethe was a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. He had a key role in calculating the critical mass of the weapons and developing the theory behind the implosion method used in both the Trinity test and the "Fat Man" weapon. He earned the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1967. 

Below is a picture of an actual Nobel Prize. This solid gold award was presented to Frederick Reines in 1995. He worked on Hans Bethe's team while on the Manhattan Project. Michele said it's the coolest item she saw today.

After the creation of the atomic bomb, Los Alamos continued it's significant role in the U.S. Government's nuclear projects such as the development of the Hydrogen bomb, a thermo nuclear fusion weapon. During Harold Agnew's reign (1970 - 1979) as the third director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, safety and miniaturization were the most significant accomplishments. Here is an example of a small nuclear weapon. The B54 Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM).

This man-portable nuclear bomb is about the size of one of those orange cylindrical Gatorade coolers you often see being dumped on coaches after football games. This small weapon was part of the US nuclear stockpile from 1964-1989. Rob found this to be the most interesting portion of today's walking tour.

After the Bethe house, we walked to the Womens' Army Corp (WAC) dormitory, now abandoned, and completed the tour. The WAC dormitory is one of the few WWII built buildings still standing. We forgot to take a photo of it, but it was a plain two-story white building with a few broken and boarded up windows. The park association hopes to restore the building someday.

Our day was a unique type of park experience and we got in a good walk. Temps were sunny, but chillier than yesterday in the high 40s. We departed Los Alamos and made our way back to Santa Fe. 

The vistas leaving Los Alamos are amazing.

We arrived back at our hotel around 2:30pm and decided to do laundry at the hotel's complementary machines before dinnertime. We initially planned to visit a laundromat since the hotel didn't advertise that they had machines on site. Since the wash cycle took a long 55 minutes, we walked a few blocks to Historic Santa Fe's central plaza to check it out. Michele joked that we stayed in Santa Fe, but for two days we commuted to Los Alamos and still hadn't seen the historic town square. The streets are pretty with the adobe style architecture.

Formed in 1610, Santa Fe is the second oldest city in the U.S. Located in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, Santa Fe has the highest elevation of any U.S. capitol city at 7,199 feet. Santa Fe was the terminus of the Santa Fe Trail, used by settlers, traders, and trappers that stretched to Missouri. 

The cathedral Michele wanted to go in, Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi Santa Fe, is closed for renovations this month so we couldn't see the stained glass windows inside. Its Romanesque Revival architecture from the outside was impressive. It was built from 1869-1886, taking the place of a small adobe church built in 1626.

 

Michele said she's glad we briefly saw historic Santa Fe, but with mostly upscale southwestern jewelry shops and art galleries, she's happy we spent our two days in Los Alamos and the Bandelier Park instead. Downtown is likely much more vibrant in warmer weather. This big kitty was taking in the last of the day's sunlight.

Back at our room, we finished up laundry. For dinner we ordered takeout from Lino's Trattoria, the same restaurant as our first night here, since the one from last night was not accepting online carryout orders. The veggie pizza and salad were excellent. Tomorrow, we plan an early start since it's a long driving day to Texas and we lose an hour as we move into the Central Time Zone.