Independance Day
Randy and I hit the road right after the Java Station opened their doors for 4th of July celebrations. It's approximately two hours from Albuquerque to Magdelina which is the last habitation before getting to the Very Large Array so we stopped for a bite to eat and to make sure we were heading the right direction. The lady who runs Bear Mountain is a wonderful hostess and fed us some an assortment of hummouses, a pair of great sandwiches and fantastic shakes while telling us of travellers and all there is to see in the area surrounding Magdelina.
After our early lunch, we pressed on to the Very Large Array. By design, this scientific marvel is a long ways from civilization and shielded from cellular signals by the surrounding mountains. I could do an entire post about what the VLA is and how much impact it has had on modern astronomy but I'll let you search for the wikipedia entry. Know that the VLA is an awe inspiring achievement of technology that is certainly worth the drive.
From there we drove onwards to Pie Town, New Mexico which is a popular spot for travellers to stop and grab a slice of pie. Apparently, most travellers pass through Pie Town before 4pm because that's what time they close the doors.
At this point, the computer built into the car was telling us that we had approximately 90 miles worth of gas left in the car which was just enough to get us back to Socorro. Of course, we pressed onwards figuring that we find a gas station before the car ran dry. Fortunately, it was only another 30 miles to a gas station so we hadn't even started to worry yet.
Then we turned north towards Grants and eventually, Albuquerque. As we were cruising through the desert a sign caught my eye and prompted me to slam on the brakes. We had nearly passed the entrance to the Lava Flats. This park is exactly what the name says it is. It's an old lava flow that has very rugged plants growing all over it. Randy and I spent quite some time climbing around and taking pictures and I even spent a little time building an inukshuk for Vicky.
There is more to yesterday's adventure and lots more photos (as per usual, you can click on any of these images to go straight to my Flickr account). I will update tomorrow after work with as many images as I can work on including some 3d images that look to be promising. Now I need to sleep so I can be ready to work in 7.5 hours.
After our early lunch, we pressed on to the Very Large Array. By design, this scientific marvel is a long ways from civilization and shielded from cellular signals by the surrounding mountains. I could do an entire post about what the VLA is and how much impact it has had on modern astronomy but I'll let you search for the wikipedia entry. Know that the VLA is an awe inspiring achievement of technology that is certainly worth the drive.
From there we drove onwards to Pie Town, New Mexico which is a popular spot for travellers to stop and grab a slice of pie. Apparently, most travellers pass through Pie Town before 4pm because that's what time they close the doors.
At this point, the computer built into the car was telling us that we had approximately 90 miles worth of gas left in the car which was just enough to get us back to Socorro. Of course, we pressed onwards figuring that we find a gas station before the car ran dry. Fortunately, it was only another 30 miles to a gas station so we hadn't even started to worry yet.
Then we turned north towards Grants and eventually, Albuquerque. As we were cruising through the desert a sign caught my eye and prompted me to slam on the brakes. We had nearly passed the entrance to the Lava Flats. This park is exactly what the name says it is. It's an old lava flow that has very rugged plants growing all over it. Randy and I spent quite some time climbing around and taking pictures and I even spent a little time building an inukshuk for Vicky.
There is more to yesterday's adventure and lots more photos (as per usual, you can click on any of these images to go straight to my Flickr account). I will update tomorrow after work with as many images as I can work on including some 3d images that look to be promising. Now I need to sleep so I can be ready to work in 7.5 hours.