Well it’s been about 6 months since OAT East ended, so we’ve started thinking about ideas for a long-weekend adventure and George made a discovery! The Trinity Site, the missile range where the world’s first nuclear device was detonated, is open to tourists who want to learn about the event and see ground zero only twice a year, and one of those days is this Saturday.
And in keeping with our zany roadtrip adventures, we’ll stop through Roswell on the way. Because obviously.
Without making any firm plans, we’ve also got our eye on:
- The Valley of Fires recreational area near Carrizozo
- The Quebradas Backcounrty Byway, an overland route through the desert that runs from near Trinity Site to near our accommodations in Socorro
- The National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array
- And though we definitely won’t have time for both, George and I are fighting it out between an offroad ascent up either
- Mount Withington because it has a lookout tower!
- South Baldy which had an interesting looking trail on satellite view and also has the Magdalena Ridge Observatory and the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research.
- Both are among the highest roads, paved or otherwise, in New Mexico, at 10,000 and 10,800 feet respectively.
- And though we’re trying to cram a lot into very little time, so we probably won’t make it up there, it is also the week of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta! According to a coworker who lives there, it is “their SXSW,” expected to draw in nearly a million people. For those keeping score at home, the population of Albuquerque is 560,000.
