Los Alamos

Los Alamos

This was another place of history. I confess it looked nothing like the pictures I had in my mind. For those of you who don’t remember or who missed that day in US History class, Los Alamos is where the scientists gathered during WWII to invent the atomic bomb – the Manhattan Project. (And what a mixed blessing that turned out to be: millions of Japanese killed, millions of US soldiers saved, years of living in fear, medical miracles that have saved more millions around the world, relatively clean energy, holes full of waste so nasty nothing and no one can be near them.) I had visualized a couple of Quonsets in the hot dust with a few brilliant people wandering around sharing ideas. It was nothing like that! First of all it is on the top of a mesa about 8600’ high. This mesa has “fingers” extending out and the city is built on several of these with bridges connecting them – it sort of has the feel of islands – and it gets about 36” of snow in the winter. Now, of course, it is a real city (the Los Alamos National Laboratory is located there) with about 18,000 residents. But there were lots of pictures of what it was like during WWII. It was huge! Thousands of people worked there developing the bomb; guarding the site; taking care of those developing and guarding; being dependents of those developing, guarding and taking care. And while arid there were juniper and salt cedar on the top of the mesa and ponderosa pines in the gorges. We went to two different museums: one about the history up to and including the Manhattan Project, the other a science museum starting with the Manhattan Project and continuing with what is happening at the Laboratory now. Before the Manhattan Project took over the mesa the Los Alamos Boys Ranch was there. It was a boarding school for the sons of wealthy families who were in poor health. The curriculum and living conditions were quite rigorous. All of the boys belonged to Boy Scout Troop 22, the first mounted troop in the US, and had to be 1st Class Scouts in order to graduate. When the Manhattan Project came they used the school buildings for the dining hall and residences for the senior staff.

From Los Alamos

On the road back we saw an absolutely spectacular sunset.

From 2010-10-5 Dave

Our last stop for the day was at St. Francis Church in Rancho Taos just south of Taos proper. This church was in an Ansel Adams photo and a Georgia O’Keefe painting.