Fri 8 Feb - Santa Fe, NM

Today, we go atomic.

However, we started our day with some housekeeping - banking , bill paying, and clothes washing - dull but has to be done. We were also planning the next couple of weeks and booking motels too, which is more fun.

A side note - today marks Hans' 25th anniversary of arriving in Australia. It is also exactly 1 month since we arrived in the US, so does that make it Hans 24 years and 11 months anniversary ignoring all other trips...?

The main event for the day is a trip to Los Alamos - the little secret town famous for the Manhattan Project (the designers, developers, builders and testers of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

The highway north passes through some Indian reservations and they even mark the overpass bridges with their names.

Los Alamos was super secret between 1943 and 1945 and the one and only security gates (called "Main Gate"...) to the town were only removed in 1957.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) continues with research up to this date and is responsible for USA nuclear defense and detection, as well as major scientific research with over 4000 scientists employed.

But, we were obviously more interested in Los Alamos past and the Manhattan Project. We found this sign in downtown...

And this plaque...

Not much of the Manhattan Project's temporary town is left. Most accommodation and buildings were temporary except for houses on a street called Bathtub Row where the senior scientists lived and used - including Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer the director of the project.

The visitors centre promotes a 1 mile historic walking tour, which we followed, taking about an hour (in 5 degrees - not warm today).

First stop - this pond around where most research buildings and a hospital were based. Ironically the pond is named Ashley Pond which is the exact name of the founder of the Los Alamos Ranch school which was evicted by the government for the Manhattan Project location. No compensation - you just leave within about 8 months as US war effort requires your property and its surroundings.

We thought geese flew south for the winter... Did these guys get lost? Or is this south enough?

There is a clear sense of pride in the achievements of the Manhattan Project with a belief it was needed to end the war. One day we will go to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Museum to get "the views from the other side".

This building is Fuller Lodge and was the key school building until the Manhattan Project took over it (and the whole area).

Fuller Lodge really looks like a hunting lodge. Beautiful from both the outside and the inside.

For some reason the local guide felt it was important that Hans test out this chair - Hans added the incognito touch!

The home below, now privately owned, was Dr Oppenheimer's home between 1943 and 1945. As the Manhattan Project was completed and the bombs had fallen over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Dr Oppenheimer packed up and left. However, many scientists stayed on to form the LANL, some continuing their work for another 30 to 40 years.

A statue of Dr Oppenheimer outside Fuller Lodge.

 

Di with Dr Oppenheimer and General Groves who was charged with establishing and running the overall project. Apparently the men were very different in nature and style but complemented each others skills and worked well together.

A quick cheap (and average) Chinese lunch before we head into the Bradbury Science Museum, the community face of LANL and full of information on the Manhattan Project. It is also free - we like that!

Bradbury Science Museum is superb. A must see for anyone interested in this part of WWII history.

Wow - the information they provide and evidence they have (now declassified).

For example this letter, which started it all. It is a secret and personal letter from Albert Einstein to Roosevelt in 1939 explaining the fast developments in nuclear science and warning of the potential of bomb making and the likelihood that Germany was exploring it at that very moment.

Roosevelt responded quickly and established a specialist board to investigate and plan, refer letter 2 below.

The Manhattan Project commenced less than 3 years later in 1942 and they pulled in the necessary English, European and American scientists and university graduates who had been at the forefront of the developments to fast track the project.

This 3rd letter from the US War Department was sent to the Los Alamos Ranch School evicting them from their premises.

The bombs designed were called Little Boy (Uranium) and Fat Man (Plutonium). Fat Man had to be tested and was the first successful atomic detonation world wide on 16 July 1945. The bombs were finalized and dropped on Japan less than a month later in August 1945.

The jars below contain materials, including the new manmade material referred to as trinitite which was created as a result from the explosions at that test site (aka Trinity), 200 miles south of Los Alamos.

We also watched some films, one historic and one about LANL activities. The LANL laboratories are huge and on a map you can see that take 38 square miles of the town, but damn, they are also restricted access and heavily secured (no real surprise).

Back to our hotel by 4pm for a spa. It is getting cold and rain/snow is predicted from around lunchtime tomorrow so we are happy we made the most of today.

To celebrate Hans' 25 years in Oz we went to a New Mexican diner called The Pantry.

It had been in business since 1948. We understand why. BBQ beef brisket smothered in Green chilli, served with Corona made Hans smile (a lot!). Great food, cheap and great service. It was voted by TripAdvisor reviewers as #9 of 383 Santa Fe restaurants and we will be adding our positive review too.

Whilst there we read a warning sign about DUI, Driving Under Influence (known as DWI here, Driving While Influenced, we think) and how strict New Mexico law is on it. 1st offense is loss of license and 90 days in jail! Australia sentencing seems slack by comparison although has more DUI detection

A lovely evening. We'll miss green chilli when we leave New Mexico. Becoming a habit.

The wind chill is definitely in the air when we return "home" so we plan our activities for tomorrow with the heater turned up and a blanket over us.

Good night.

 

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