Pilgrimmage to Atomic City

 For our last full day in Santa Fe, the plan had been floated to drive up to Taos to visit the pueblo. I wasn't so keen on that, as I'd visited in previously and had no desire to return. The pueblo is beautiful but a visit there would be a long drive both directions, and while one is there on the site, it involves going inside people's adobe houses which are one gift shop after another.

Thankfully I was able through modest efforts to persuade a change of plans involving a more modest excursion from Santa Fe to places I was excited to revisit from ten years ago, namely the Valles Caldera, which is among my favorite overlooked place in North America. Did you know that there is a huge volcanic caldera that covers a huge chunk of northern New Mexico, and that it is spectacular? 

On the flanks of this ancient blow-out volcano sits a small town which sprung up on the site of a boy's camp in 1942, and where scientists gathered for wartime research. Of course this is Los Alamos--both the laboratory and the town. 

We made a fun day of it, driving up to the caldera into the snow and pines. The three others of the party were thankful we had made the trip. It is a marvelous experience in late winter. Then we descended into Los Alamos town, cutting through the laboratory grounds the back way which was new to me. There is a smattering of old buildings to see associated with the project and we walked among them.  I had talked extensively about the Manhattan Project and Los Alamos on recent episodes of my podcast show Spellbreakers, so it was fun to see the place with those fresh eyes of knowledge. 

We followed up by a visit to the Bradbury Science Museum on atomic history (named after a Los Alamos lab director, not the science fiction author). I had remembered the museum as one of my favorite (and free) experiences from my visit in 2013, and it did not fail to live up to that recollection, as all four of us agreed.  For our last dinner together we found a sports pub with an atomic theme and atomic-themed local beers and ales. It was glorious fun climax to our trip, tinged by the sadness that our time together with Rande and Karen had come to a close again.