Showing posts with label New Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Mexico. Show all posts

Saturday, January 12, 2019

Saturday & Sundry Memories: Mysteries in S.W. USA.

Mention of UFO sightings in a bunch of predictions by a "time traveller", featured in my post dated 2 January 2019 set my mind back almost five years, to a post I wrote in February 2014. I enjoyed re-reading that post myself (inner narcissist coming out) so shall re-air it, lightly edited, for the weekend.



Back in 2014, we had recently watched an "indie" movie on DVD: The Wicksboro Incident. It's one of the genre often labelled "found footage", in documentary style though purely fictional. The film's theme: Wicksboro, a fictional small town in far south-western Texas, disappeared with its inhabitants sometime in the early 1950s. One survivor emerges from hiding decades later to tell his story to two amateur film-makers. His story involves ... aliens. 'Nuf said. A passing reader who stumbles across this blog at some future point might wish to see the movie, I will not spoil it by expanding further on the plot. The film, around 70 minutes long, starts slowly but builds. There's lots of shaky camera work, dark, almost blank screens with voices only, to reassure us that the DVD hasn't stuck in its groove (or whatever).

That film underlined, for me, how an area of south-western United States, New Mexico, part of southern Colorado, and south-western Texas seem to have developed mysterious connections to strange happenings, modern legends, the weird and the would-be wonderful. On our trips, over the years around these areas, we've visited a few locations of mysterious reputation. Roswell, New Mexico always comes to mind first.

We first visited Roswell, New Mexico in 2006, the UFO Museum and Research Center was then situated in the main street, in what appeared to be an old movie theater. A new center for the museum was under construction further down the road.

We read many of the numerous exhibits: newspaper articles, sworn affidavits and other printed material displayed around the walls. The main part of the museum deals, unsurprisingly, with the reported UFO crash near Roswell in 1947. There are, among many other things, reports and signed statements from witnesses who saw evidence of the crash and collected wreckage. Evidence of a request for "child size coffins". In several of the statements, witnesses reported seeing purple colored symbols, hieroglyphic-like, on a strip among the wreckage. There's a statement by a woman medical officer, detailed to take notes at an autopsy of bodies following the crash. She was later sent to England, and subsequently is said to have disappeared - or has not been heard from again.


Who can say how genuine any of the material is, after 60 years have passed? And yet, why would ordinary, everyday people have fabricated such a story, back in 1947 on a summer evening just before midnight, without reason? In those days there were few, if any TV programmes about extra-terrestrial phenomena to ignite the imagination. There were few sci-fi movies. What else but "a happening" could have sparked reports of such a bizarre occurrence as this? We discussed our feelings about the whole Roswell story later, after our museum visit, came to the conclusion that "something" did happen on that night in 1947. The "something" was covered up by lies from those in authority at the time. Lies from government downward are not unknown, even in current history, which fact inclined us to believe at least some of the stories told by witnesses.


On a 2005 trip to see Anasazi cave dwellings at Mesa Verde, Colorado we happened across a UFO Watchtower in the San Luis Valley, near Hooper. The site was run by a friendly lady who told us tales of strange sightings she and others had experienced. She also told us that some Native American tribes believe that their ancestors came from "the stars".





On a later trip, 2011, celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary, in the far north of New Mexico, we intended to see what we could find relating to some strange legends surrounding a tiny town called Dulce, on the border of Colorado and New Mexico, close to the Continental Divide, where altitude reaches 7 to 8 thousand ft at various points. Google search "Dulce, New Mexico" for numerous tales of varying incredibility about Dulce and what lies beneath Archuleta Mesa! We, unfortunately, decided to turn around and head home just before we reached Dulce, due to unexpected wintry weather, altitude (7,871ft), and a few uncomfortable health issues.

One particular little village on Highway 64, Dulce, was going to fascinate yours truly because of stories of UFOs, aliens and a massive 7-layered underground government facility said to be nearby - under a huge mesa. There are also stories/legends of a UFO crash near Aztec village in this area. Again, there's a ton of information, comment from locals and researchers online. Some, if even half-true would be hair-raising. It involves bio-tech experiments (which I can believe), mutilated cattle found regularly around the area (documented), alien cooperation following a firefight between government troops and aliens or "grays" (which I can't believe).

I'd guess that there really is, or was, some kind of underground facility in this area dating from 1950s through 1970s. The fear of nuclear war was fierce then.
The US government, paranoia-filled as usual, could easily have decided to experiment, attempting to plan for all eventualities: mutations, radiation effects, etc. etc. Where better than this wilderness area with plentiful natural underground caverns, easily extended and modified, for use without much chance of discovery? That part of the stories isn't hard to believe, given the atmosphere of those times.

We didn't reach Dulce though. We stayed overnight in Chama, a village 25 miles to the east. The temperature was frigid up there in the mountains, some of what we'd assumed was remnants of the winter's snow remained in the fields and forests over the highest parts of the route.

Neither of us slept a wink that night though. The altitude was probably getting to us both. My husband, restless, decided to get up and play on the laptop. I experienced a severe attack of allergic sneezing which brought on a sharp sinus headache and it simply wouldn't let up. In addition I had developed a troublesome sore on my ankle. We both wondered aloud whether to carry on west or head back to Oklahoma next morning. When we looked outside at about 7 AM we decided at once! Snow had coated the car, and it was still snowing. Probably not at all a surprising find to the locals but a bit disconcerting to southerners like us, spoiled by an unusually warm spring. I hadn't packed any warm clothes. We had to layer up with what we had. It was Sunday, no shops were open to buy warmer clothing - there were no shops around anyway! I'd also managed, somehow, to get myself multi-bitten by an insect (goodness knows what insect would be around in those temps!) I still have 3 itchy bites on my left earlobe, several down the left side of my neck and a cluster of bites on my chest. And they ain't love bites!! We headed home on Sunday morning.

A trip to the Big Bend area of southern Texas in 2012 threw up yet another oddity. In the village of Marfa stories of "the Marfa lights" or "ghost lights" are common. Stange lights, with no logical explanation, have frequently been observed near U.S. Route 67 on Mitchell Flat east of the village. These have gained fame due to some observers having theorised a connection to paranormal phenomena....UFOs, ghostly apparitions etc.
A half-hour drive west of Alpine found us in Marfa, a tiny town made famous by some mysterious lights which appear, intermittently, in the vicinity - Wikipedia explains.


Interestingly the fictional Wicksboro Incident, mentioned at the top of this post, took place in the same general area as Marfa - possibly chosen by its creators because of "the lights"?

I shall remain among the "don't knows" on the topics of UFOs, ghosts, and strange goings-on in general - until I actually experience something to fully convince me otherwise. The experience mentioned below was getting there, it did bring goose bumps. It was an incident unrelated to UFOs and aliens, but still strange. In Santa Fe, New Mexico some years ago, celebrating either my birthday or my husband's.
We had wandered into a hotel lobby thinking it to be the entrance to an arcade of stores. We noticed a bar, still early evening quiet, decided to have a birthday drink there. I considered taking the seat near the wall at the end of the old copper lined bar, but decided it looked rather dark.
I pulled out the next stool along, then felt guilty for leaving a single stool empty, in case a couple might want seats later on - but still, it somehow didn't feel right to move to the end stool. Later in the evening, when some live entertainment was about to begin, it was announced that a beloved regular in this bar, a lady well known in Santa Fe (local singer or musician) had died of cancer a couple of days ago. The seat at the end of the bar had been her usual place to sit. The barman brought her usual drink and placed it there, in her memory. The hairs on the back of my neck began to prickle !

Monday, August 08, 2016

Jiggity Jig....

Home again, home again....

Our trip to find higher, cooler ground seeking relief from Oklahoma's sizzling heat was, "like the curate's egg - good in parts". After a night in Amarillo in the Texas panhandle we headed for our chosen higher ground in New Mexico, that state's Las Vegas - nothing like its counterpart in Nevada, from what I've read of it. This Las Vegas, a medium sized town, is not far from Santa Fe, which though lovely, would be choked with tourists at this time of year, so we gave it a miss.

We took a couple of scenic circular drives around the Santa Fe National Forest area, upon which Las Vegas borders. Temperatures were mostly mid to high 70s to mid 80s during the day, felt just right to yours truly! Las Vegas' elevation is 6,424 ft, it felt fine for us. We probably drove through much higher altitudes, with no ill effects.

We had intended to return via a different route, visiting some towns in the northern Texas panhandle: Borger, Pampa, Dalhart and Dumas, with overnights in Borger, and in one or t'other of the latter two. Here we hit mild snags. It appears that, in this part of Texas, authorities are dipping into a rather big budget-pot to carry out extensive road repairs and road re-bulding. In both Dalhart and Dumas traffic was absolutely chaotic, due to ongoing road repair through main thoroughfares. Dalhart was especially bad with, in addition to road repair and re-building, some very deep holes being excavated to hold pipework.

So, on we drove further south, to Childress, Texas. Dang me though - the first two hotels we enquired for a room were both full! I asked if some festival or fair was going on in town, but was told, no - many hotel rooms had been taken over by squads of construction workers. These were not yer old fashioned car outside-the door motels, by the way, they were the Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn type! Ah well...it's good to know the workers are being well looked after, for working in this triple-digit heat can be no easy task!

So...on we had to go, yet again, this time to try our luck in Vernon, Texas, a little further south and, actually not that far from home. It was getting late, though, husband was nearing, or had passed, his driving limit for the day. We found a very nice room in Vernon, decided to stay for 2 nights giving us time to explore the area, including Seymour, Texas, with its history of discovery of dinosaur bones in the area. We didn't actually see anything of reptilian interest, the museum was closed when we came upon it. We shall return when the weather cools down.

Checking in at the Vernon hotel, the couple ahead of us, guy and gal, very tanned, in sleeveless tops, bandanas atop heads, had obviously been travelling by motor cycle. They told us, when we met in the elevator later, that they had driven from Louisiana that day and were headed for Montana. Yikes! And in this heat! Temperatures in the afternoons in this part of Texas were ranging from 104 to 107 according to our car's gauge and roadside signs.

We noticed, in small towns we passed through, that many stores hadn't bothered to open, including any antique stores we came across. I guess that keeping the stores cool enough to welcome shoppers would be too expensive, and would cancel out any small profits. We did find one or two antique stores open, struggling to cool using fans, but that wasn't working - we could stay inside for only a short time. Some tiny towns seemed completely closed down - not a body to be seen, human or animal!

We'd have been wiser to have stayed in New Mexico longer, and returned home via the quickest route. Hindsight!


A few photographs from husband's camera are below. Most of the best scenic views couldn't be captured, because of winding roads with dangerous drops on one side. There were disconcerting road signs here and there warning of falling rocks. We've never had a problem with this, but I do recall that, once in Tenerife, Canary Islands, on vacation from the UK years ago, seeing results of the fall of a very large rock which had barrelled down a cliff side, directly hitting a coach full of tourists, crushing the 'bus, killing passengers. So I don't take those signs lightly - fingers are crossed while driving through such areas.

Clicking on images should bring up a better view.



The once Black Hotel in Borger, Texas, about to be demolished. See story HERE.



So there really are non-Republicans in Texas (in addition to commenter mike!) Registration tag blurred - to protect the innocent.



This was a surprise roadside attraction as we passed through Shamrock, Texas: The U-Drop Inn, also known as Tower Station and U-Drop Inn and Tower Café. It was built in 1936, along the historic Route 66 highway. See Wikipedia's page.

 Himself.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

My Own Retrograding - Hand in Hand with Mercury

Mercury Retrograde
has spanned he period
May 19 – June 11, 2015. Coincidentally (or not) I've had a bit of a re-tracing exercise going on during this exact span - unintentionally organised too, I should add.

Regular readers might recall my tale of woe about an accident I had while in New Mexico in late March (see here).

I refrained from taking the advice of the radiologist in New Mexico who seemed intent on putting the Fear of Dog into yours truly, by referring to two masses around my throat area, revealed by the CT scan they rushed me into. By the time I'd gathered my senses on the way back to our hotel, I was confident that the problems were not as dire as all that. I'd coughed up a piece of nasty caused by the blow to my throat, which could possibly account for one mass, on my epiglottis, and the other on my thyroid had been investigated several years ago and found to be benign. So...as my voice and throat gradually returned to normal over several days, I resisted going to regale my own doctor with the preliminary findings and disc of the New Mexico CT scan. I already had a Mid-May appointment for twice-yearly blood-work, plus a followup chat with our GP, so I decided to wait for that.

Bloodwork came up all okay. On telling the Doc my tale of woe, he thought for a while and decided it'd be eminently reasonable for me to go see the local ENT specialist. I did so on 28 May. My tale of woe was told - again. ENT Doc inspected my throat closely, flicked with a needle-ish tool a quite large grain of hardened "stuff" from a fold in my left tonsil (maybe the remaining part of the mass on my epiglottis?) He said that such things form from time to time, nothing to worry about. His nurse approached with another dangly tool- with this one he entered my nostril and travelled down into my throat for a "good look around". He declared all to be well, nothing untoward there. His remaining concern was the thyroid thing. He asked had any of my relatives had thyroid cancer. No, they hadn't! I referred him to the fact that I'd had an ultra-scan back in 2006, which had shown no malignancy, but he still felt it necessary to go a wee bit further and have a biopsy done. He explained this procedure to me very carefully - likely to be fairly painless, thyroid entered from outer neck - a fine needle which will "suck" a few cells to be investigated. I wasn't overjoyed at this prospect.

On 4 June, bright and early (well, early) we were at the radiology dept of our excellent hospital. The whole thing was, as the doctor who performed the biopsy said as he bounced into the room, "quick, easy and painless". He uttered the best words of this adventure so far: "these things are usually benign". I did note the word "usually", but the fact that he said the word benign cheered me no end!

Follow-up appointment with ENT Doc for results was yesterday afternoon, 10 June, almost at the end of Mercury Retrograde. Even though I originally felt pretty confident that all was well, I still had lingering doubts, pushing my BP up sky high before I eventually saw the nurse, who kindly reassured me that "there's nothing bad in the report". ENT Doc eventually showed up and confirmed that I have a benign nodule on the left thyroid. He advised that it'd be wise to keep an eye on it via an ultra-scan initially in 6 to 8 months, then maybe annually, to make sure the nodule wasn't growing and causing problems with other bits and pieces in the left throat area.

So...all's well that ends well...and it ended almost in harmony with Mercury's latest back tracking exercise.


Thursday, March 26, 2015

Being Pegasus ?

We got home late yesterday afternoon, a couple of days earlier than expected, one of us a little the worse for wear.

Long story short:
Our plan "A" (I-40/Route66) as far as Flagstaff AZ, with side trips to Grand Canyon and Sedona) was scrapped when we reached Albuquerque NM. I-40 and the city were just so congested and chaotic traffic-wise, I couldn't stand to think of another day and a half of the busy-busy-busy on I-40 with risk-taking drivers more in evidence than in either OK or TX. So, instead of an overnight in Albuquerque we headed further south, stayed a night in Socorro, then on to Alamogordo NM. There was a tentative plan for side-trips to Las Cruces, and White Sands, for a second look with less heat to contend with than last time; and a trip to the National Solar Observatory in the mountains around 30 miles from Alamogordo.

On Monday morning we set off from Alamogordo for the Solar Observatory -
a wonderfully scenic drive through the Lincoln Forest,
with steep very winding mountain roads, mostly all to ourselves. As we got close to the site, blue road signs appeared at varying distances, beginning with "Neptune", "Uranus" , on and on to "Mercury". (I snapped the signs from the car window.) Observatory is at about 9,600 feet from sea level. Reached the site, looked around the museum there and set off to do the round of the three actual observatory buildings, a short distance apart. On the way from the first to the second building - a tall white structure up at which I was gazing, unknown to me there was a slight indent or bump (not sure which) in the walkway. I went flying - not to the Sun like Pegasus but to Mother Earth camera in hand. I tried to stop myself, just didn't make it, but luckily - or not - the camera, while saving my face/jaw/nose/teeth from damage, was in such a position for me to land on a curved side edge of it, throat-first.

First aid at the museum/visitor's centre provided some antiseptic wipes for the multiple grazes and scrapes on both my hands and an arm. The assistant there called for first aiders from another site. They arrived and provided Band Aids, and a cold pack to help stop swelling. My voice had just about disappeared - little more than a croak, and throat very painful where it had hit my camera. They offered to call for an ambulance, but other than the throat thing, and minor scrapes I felt alright, so we opted to go back to Alamogordo right away and visit the Emergency department of the hospital there to have someone look at my throat.

The general doctor in Emergency suspected I'd bruised my trachea and advised to speak as little as possible. I was given a CT scan with IV ("for contrast")- I thought this was all a bit over the top - but whatever! After a long wait a specialist arrived with the results. She said there were a couple of things to be concerned about, possibly unrelated to the accident. She was going to send me to an ENT specialist. Croakingly I reminded her that we were not from the local area, and it would be better for us to get home to see my local doctor. One of the concerning things she had mentioned is something I and my GP are already aware of, has been tested and is nothing to worry about. I didn't go into long explanations to her, my voice was practically non-existent at that time. The other thing she mentioned, a "mass" on the epiglottis sounded more worrying. Anyway, they provided a print out and disc of the CT scan to take to my doctor. We left, and after a while, when coughing in the car, I spat out a glob of blood/mucus - possibly the "mass" they had seen. Throat bled some whenever I coughed, but after a few hours stopped bleeding. Throat remains very sore on left side, voice nowhere near normal yet, but slightly better. It'll take a few days more.

So...that's my tale of woe!














Edge of White Sands in the distance

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Southwestern Oddities

We watched an indie movie on DVD the other night, The Wicksboro Incident. It's one of the genre often labelled "found footage", documentary style but purely fictional. The film's theme: Wicksboro, in far south-western Texas (fictional small town) disappeared with its inhabitants sometime in the early 1950s. One survivor emerges from hiding decades later to tell his story to two amateur film-makers. His story involves ...aliens. 'Nuf said. Someone who happens across this blog at some point might wish to see the movie, I don't want to spoil it. It's a short film, only about 70 mins, it starts slowly but builds. There's lots of shaky camera work, dark, almost blank screens with voices only to reassure us the DVD hasn't stuck in its groove (or whatever).

The film set me thinking how an area of south-western United States, New Mexico, part of southern Colorado, and south-western Texas have developed mysterious connections to strange happenings, modern legends, the weird and the would-be wonderful. On our trips, over the years around these areas, we've visited a few locations of mysterious reputation. Roswell, New Mexico always comes to mind first.

We first visited Roswell, New Mexico in 2006, the UFO Museum and Research Center was then situated in the main street, in what appeared to be an old movie theater. A new center for the museum was under construction further down the road.

We read many of the numerous exhibits: newspaper articles, sworn affidavits and other printed material displayed around the walls. The main part of the museum deals, unsurprisingly, with the reported UFO crash near Roswell in 1947. There are, among many other things, reports and signed statements from witnesses who saw evidence of the crash and collected wreckage. Evidence of a request for "child size coffins". In several of the statements, witnesses reported seeing purple colored symbols, hieroglyphic-like, on a strip among the wreckage. There's a statement by a woman medical officer, detailed to take notes at an autopsy of bodies following the crash. She was later sent to England, and subsequently is said to have disappeared - or has not been heard from again.


Who can say how genuine any of the material is, after 60 years have passed? And yet, why would ordinary, everyday people have fabricated such a story, back in 1947 on a summer evening just before midnight, without reason? In those days there were few, if any TV programmes about extra-terrestrial phenomena to ignite the imagination. There were few sci-fi movies. What else but "a happening" could have sparked reports of such a bizarre occurrence as this? We discussed our feelings about the whole Roswell story later, after our museum visit, came to the conclusion that "something" did happen on that night in 1947. The "something" was covered up by lies from those in authority at the time. Lies from government downward are not unknown, even in current history, which fact inclined us to believe at least some of the stories told by witnesses.


On a 2005 trip to see Anasazi cave dwellings at Mesa Verde, Colorado we happened across a UFO Watchtower in the San Luis Valley, near Hooper. The site was run by a friendly lady who told us tales of strange sightings she and others had experienced. She also told us that some Native American tribes believe that their ancestors came from "the stars".





On a later trip, 2011, celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary, in the far north of New Mexico, we intended to see what we could find relating to some strange legends surrounding a tiny town called Dulce, on the border of Colorado and New Mexico, close to the Continental Divide, where altitude reaches 7 to 8 thousand ft at various points. Google search "Dulce, New Mexico" for numerous tales of varying incredibility about Dulce and what lies beneath Archuleta Mesa! We, unfortunately, decided to turn around and head home just before we reached Dulce, due to unexpected wintry weather, altitude (7,871ft), and a few uncomfortable health issues.

One particular little village on Highway 64, Dulce, was going to fascinate yours truly because of stories of UFOs, aliens and a massive 7-layered underground government facility said to be nearby - under a huge mesa. There are also stories/legends of a UFO crash near Aztec village in this area. Again, there's a ton of information, comment from locals and researchers online. Some, if even half-true would be hair-raising. It involves bio-tech experiments (which I can believe), mutilated cattle found regularly around the area (documented), alien cooperation following a firefight between government troops and aliens or "grays" (which I can't believe).

I'd guess that there really is, or was, some kind of underground facility in this area dating from 1950s through 1970s. The fear of nuclear war was fierce then.
The US government, paranoia-filled as usual, could easily have decided to experiment, attempting to plan for all eventualities: mutations, radiation effects, etc. etc. Where better than this wilderness area with plentiful natural underground caverns, easily extended and modified, for use without much chance of discovery? That part of the stories isn't hard to believe, given the atmosphere of those times.

We didn't reach Dulce though. We stayed overnight in Chama, a village 25 miles to the east. The temperature was frigid up there in the mountains, some of what we'd assumed was remnants of the winter's snow remained in the fields and forests over the highest parts of the route.

Neither of us slept a wink that night though. The altitude was probably getting to us both. My husband, restless, decided to get up and play on the laptop. I experienced a severe attack of allergic sneezing which brought on a sharp sinus headache and it simply wouldn't let up. In addition I had developed a troublesome sore on my ankle. We both wondered aloud whether to carry on west or head back to Oklahoma next morning. When we looked outside at about 7 AM we decided at once! Snow had coated the car, and it was still snowing. Probably not at all a surprising find to the locals but a bit disconcerting to southerners like us, spoiled by an unusually warm spring. I hadn't packed any warm clothes. We had to layer up with what we had. It was Sunday, no shops were open to buy warmer clothing - there were no shops around anyway! I'd also managed, somehow, to get myself multi-bitten by an insect (goodness knows what insect would be around in those temps!) I still have 3 itchy bites on my left earlobe, several down the left side of my neck and a cluster of bites on my chest. And they ain't love bites!! We headed home on Sunday morning.

A trip to the Big Bend area of southern Texas in 2012 threw up yet another oddity. In the village of Marfa stories of "the Marfa lights" or "ghost lights" are common. Stange lights, with no logical explanation, have frequently been observed near U.S. Route 67 on Mitchell Flat east of the village. These have gained fame due to some observers having theorised a connection to paranormal phenomena....UFOs, ghostly apparitions etc.
A half-hour drive west of Alpine found us in Marfa, a tiny town made famous by some mysterious lights which appear, intermittently, in the vicinity - Wikipedia explains.


Interestingly the fictional Wicksboro Incident, mentioned at the top of this post, took place in the same general area as Marfa - possibly chosen by its creators because of "the lights"?

I shall remain among the "don't knows" on the topics of UFOs, ghosts, and strange goings-on in general - until I actually experience something to fully convince me otherwise. The experience mentioned below was getting there, it did bring goose bumps. It was an incident unrelated to UFOs and aliens, but still strange. In Santa Fe, New Mexico some years ago, celebrating either my birthday or my husband's.
We had wandered into a hotel lobby thinking it to be the entrance to an arcade of stores. We noticed a bar, still early evening quiet, decided to have a birthday drink there. I considered taking the seat near the wall at the end of the old copper lined bar, but decided it looked rather dark.
I pulled out the next stool along, then felt guilty for leaving a single stool empty, in case a couple might want seats later on - but still, it somehow didn't feel right to move to the end stool. Later in the evening, when some live entertainment was about to begin, it was announced that a beloved regular in this bar, a lady well known in Santa Fe (local singer or musician) had died of cancer a couple of days ago. The seat at the end of the bar had been her usual place to sit. The barman brought her usual drink and placed it there, in her memory. The hairs on the back of my neck began to prickle !

Saturday, May 18, 2013

TRIPPING

We arrived home on Thursday evening, after enjoying some very refreshing changes of scene. We head west at this time of year, for our wedding anniversary treat trip, in an attempt to avoid tornado-type weather while on the road. The tornado season is often at its worst in May in tornado alley, roughly covering the central area and points east in the US. Tornado warnings are bad enough when ensconced at home, but on the road in the middle of nowhere they'd become way too scary - if we were, in fact, even aware of potential danger ahead. Diving into a ditch ain't my style - or his! Our caution paid off this time, we heard that ten tornadoes had hit an area of central north Texas on Wednesday night. We were in the north-west "panhandle" of the state at the time. The photograph? No idea. That's Texas for ya!

After a brief stay in the romantic-sounding city of Amarillo in the Texas panhandle, and a rummage around the antique stores of its "historic" 6th Street, we headed over into Mountain Time and New Mexico, a state known, and correctly so, as "Land of Enchantment". We've explored much of the state already - love it, love it! As well as its gorgeous scenery, so beloved by artist Georgia O'Keeffe, New Mexico has such a weird and wonderful connection to so many intriguing topics: Roswell and its UFO stories; the Carlsbad Caverns with their other-worldy scenarios; the unearthly beauty of White Sands, their amazing expanses and spine-chilling connection to atomic bomb experiments; the space port just now coming into being near peculiarly named Truth & Consequences; the Very Large Array (see blog header photo); the space museum in Alamogordo, just to name a few of the state's attractions.

Los Alamos and its surrounding region is an area we'd passed through before - during a snow storm, and always intended to return in better weather. (Photograph is from the National Laboratory website.)
Los Alamos, Spanish for "the aspens" or "the cottonwoods" depending on source is located in a high valley where aspen trees are common but cottonwood trees, which live at lower altitudes, are not. There used to be a spring in the valley where a grove of cottonwoods grew. The area got its name on maps from those trees to make for easy identification of the area (see Answers). The town sits among mesas of the Pajarito Plateau below the Jemez Mountains, and is famous for its connection to the top-secret (in the 1940s) Manhattan Project. In those days the area was remote, quite unreachable by the general public. The region housed a site originally purchased in 1917 by a Detroit entrepreneur, Ashley Pond. He had established The Los Alamos Ranch School there as a place where "privileged eastern boys might become robust learned men".
26 years later the infrastructure and roads to the area made it ideal to fill the United States government's need for a secure site for their Project Y. The ranch school closed in 1943, and immediately some of the world's greatest scientific minds arrived, their task was to unlock the secrets hidden within the atom. J. Robert Oppenheimer, a physicist at the University of California, led the research which concluded with the world's first atomic bomb. The name of the town, during that time, was not allowed to be spoken or written, it had to be referred to by its postal code only - even among local people - so tight was security.

The rest is part of mankind's darkest dark history.
"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."
(J. Robert Oppenheimer)
End of history lesson - more at Wikipedia.

We were keen to look around the Bradbury Science Museum sited in the centre of Los Alamos. As it was Monday the museum didn't open until 1pm, so a slow walk around town in the thin, high altitude air was in order, then a light lunch at The Dixie, a cavernous busy-busy, very noisy cafe. The menu offered some interesting options. I chose their "Hippie" sandwich - vegetarian burger with all manner of tasty additions piled on....high and deep. Anything at all "veggie" is a real treat for us. In Texas and Oklahoma uttering the word "vegetarian" is liable to get one frowned upon at best, run out of town at worst!

We arrived at the museum doors around opening time. All very interesting it was, though many of the exhibits and explanations were way over what my non-scientific brain could process efficiently. The two 20 minute films on offer in separate studios were excellent though, and, thank goodness, all in layman's language.

Below: scale models of two bombs Fat Man (top) the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945; and Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay.... Himself looks on.





Husband said the thingie above my head reminded him of "the cone of silence" often referenced, and used to comic effect, in an old TV comedy series called Get Smart. He said he might find a use for one....hmmm...likewise, I'm sure, sir!


You could, if you cared to scare yourself, add up your total exposure to radiation to date using this list as guide:



Most of the wartime buildings in Los Alamos are gone now, but the house where Oppenheimer lived, on the corner of Peach Street and Bathtub Row, still exists, and is still lived in by someone. It is quite unmarked by plaque or notice, just a modest house with a straggly garden. Bathtub Row was so-named because the old Ranch School masters' cottages had cast iron bathtubs, the only bathtubs around at the time; the old residences were considered suitable for leaders of the important new research project.

A modern town supporting the Los Alamos Scientific Research Laboratory has sprung up, and grown over past decades, now it is easily reached by good roads through some of the most glorious scenery in the state. The Bradbury Science Museum is the only part of the National Laboratory in Los Alamos open to the public. The National Laboratory itself is one of the premier scientific institutions in the world, it has a budget of over $2 billion, employs around 11,000 people. The core mission of the Laboratory is national security: "the reliability of the US nuclear deterrent; reducing global threats; and solving other emerging national security challenges."

I'm mainly a "ban the bomb" kind of person myself, but there's no denying that if the US/UK hadn't developed the horrendous weapon when they did, Russia would have done so first. I guess one has to look upon it as a necessary evil and a powerful deterrent - necessary at least until humans learn their lessons. We are, apparently, very slow learners.

Later it was back through the lovely landscape to Las Vegas where we were based - not THAT Las Vegas, there's one in Mew Mexico too, without the gambling and the glitz!




We stayed in Amarillo again on the return drive home, and took an extra day to explore a couple of sleepy towns in the Texas plains: Pampa (once called Glasgow), and Borger. Originally these were settled by farmers but gas and oil discoveries in the area in the early 20th century set the towns a-booming. With boom-times long over, both towns have settled back into a quietly dusty routine existence with little evidence of former glories.