Trinity Site!

Last Stop in Nuclear New Mexico!

Yesterday we got up at 6:00 AM to attend the Trinity Site Open House! The Army did a great job hosting it. Eight Security Soldiers checking 8 vehicles at a time going in, great parking management, plenty of porta potties, plenty of buses to visit the McDonald Ranch, etc. We visited Ground Zero, the McDonald Ranch where the Plutonium was assembled, and wandered around the exhibits they had out, like a replica Fatman Bomb casing. Mark was amused watching all of the people with Civil Defense Geiger Counters. And we met an NPS Park Ranger, waiting in line to get in, with whom we wandered around for quite a bit. Exchanged info, and hope to see him again!

Glad we came in early…definitely got more crowded as the day wore on. NOT to mention, we had someplace else to be later…2 hours drive away, in the opposite direction from Socorro! (and ~3,000′ higher in elevation).

Yep, in the later afternoon, we made it to the Very Large Array Open House. It was Awesome…27 Radio Telescopes in a Y formation and Massive Computing Power (which Canada paid for). It was a 2 hour drive from the Trinity Site. What they do there (to quote Mark) is Pretty Frickin Cool. He got all excited when our tour guide started talking about Fast Fourier Transforms. And, of note, our tour guide started at the VLA in 1977 as their 1st Post Doc, and is still there at 76, loving what he does. Physicist.

All together, a GREAT last day in New Mexico…well worth the 4 hours, 196 miles of driving.

We spent three nights in Socorro, in a funky little “RV Park”…just 10 spots, not far from “downtown”, in essentially a Parking Lot. At the back of each site is water, electricity and a dump station. That’s it. No bathroom.

Other entertainment here, was to taste test the San Antonio competing Green Chili Cheeseburgers at the Owl Bar and Café, the originator of the Green Chili Cheeseburger, and the Buckhorn, across the street, who beat Bobby Flay on a Throwdown, for their Green Chili Cheeseburger. Friday we visited Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Saw no Cranes, but lots of ducks, geese and other fowl and got in a few miles of hiking.