Day 111: Santa Fe to Jemez, NM

The most remarkable thing about today was the wonderful temperature outside - it was 18 degrees Celsius. Heavenly. It is beautiful in this mountainous part of New Mexico - coniferous forests, mist floating at the tree tops, and ample shade.

Our morning started with a visit to Los Alamos. We stopped to see a reconstruction of the famous entrance gate and snapped a family photo. 

We then spent several hours exploring the Bradbury Science Museum. We learned a bunch about the Manhattan Project, as well as what the Los Alamos Laboratory is up to these days, from nanotechnology to genetic research on ribosomes to breeding petroleum producing algae. Some interesting tidbits we learned at the museum included that Nagasaki was actually the back up target for the second nuclear bomb hit on Japan. Weather required a pivot after three flyovers of the desired target of Kokura indicated that pilots wouldn’t be able to make a clear drop. We also learned that the Fat Man atomic bomb was dropped from a plane called Bock’s Car but that this plane wasn’t flown by the pilot it was named after. Bock actually flew the third plane involved in the Nagasaki mission instead. The plane flown by Bock was responsible for photography, not dropping the bomb. It was never explained why Bock wasn’t piloting his namesake plane during the bombing run.

Ian’s interesting tidbit was that a Canadian nuclear physicist was involved in the Manhattan Project but later died in an accident with a plutonium experiment while teaching a class. 

The kids thought that the museum’s kid zone was amazing. They spent a bunch of time building a block world inspired by Minecraft.

We then walked to the Los Alamos Visitors Centre to pick up some maps and our Junior Ranger books. We used these to explore the houses that were associated with the Manhattan Project that are still standing. We saw the Ranch House building that housed visiting researchers, Bethe and Oppenheimer’s houses, and Ashley Pond. We also saw Hans Bethe’s Nobel Prize medal on display in his house.

Ranch House.

Bethe’s House from the back.

Bethe’s Nobel Prize.

Oppenheimer’s House.

Bethe’s House from the front.

Ashley Pond. There were loads of fish in here!

By this time we were nuclear tourismed out, so we packed it up and headed out. On the way out of town, we had to go through a security checkpoint in order to drive through the top secret Los Alamos Laboratory. We had to show ID and promise to drive only straight and take no photos on route. Crazy.

We arrived at San Antonio Campground near Jemez around 1pm. Our campsite was overrun by hornets. After Ali got stung within the first five minutes of our arrival, we decamped to inside the trailer for lunch. 

We then headed off to explore the nearby San Antonio Hot Springs. We had to drive up a 4x4 windy mountain road to get to the trailhead but we made it in one piece just in time for an epic monsoon rain and thunderstorm to hit. From the safety of the truck, we watched more rain come down in an hour than we have seen in over a month. It poured.

Once the rain abated, we hiked up to the hot springs with the encouragement of some friendly cows along the trail. The natural hot springs were amazing. There were only a few others there, the water was hot but not uncomfortably so, and the mountain view was gorgeous. I think I might be at my happiest sitting in volcanic hot springs. 

This place was so beautiful it is hard to believe that it is real.

When we were thoroughly soaked and pruney, we headed back down the mountain and back to our campsite for supper. Dinner was roasted pork on the BBQ with zucchini and cherry tomatoes. We cracked open a bottle of wine (using a multitool since we don’t have a corkscrew), listened to the Blue Jays game on the radio, and had a relaxing evening sitting outside (except for dodging hornets that are still harassing us).