The Wrong Road?

 Sometime we - John and I - make errors of judgement and take the wrong road. We were beginning to wonder if our decision to work our way down New Mexico on the minor roads was one of them. We had to cut through the Santa Fe National Forest and Jemez Mountains, which meant several miles of winding dirt road. John said that it was a logging road, and though the scenery was delightful, it took us much longer than we expected.

The other side of the forest was the Valles Caldera Preserve (an inverted volcano!), a great hunting and grazing spot for Native Americans from prehistoric times.

We had been debating whether or not to stay at Jemez Springs and explore the hot springs of the area, or head more directly back toward Santa Fe. We were running out of time. It was here that we approached Los Alamos.

Like the Four Corners, Los Alamos was one of those places that I crossed off my list while researching our trip. This is where the Los Alamos National Laboratory is located, which was founded for the specific purpose of creating a nuclear bomb. (See The Manhattan Project). I know that there is more to Los Alamos and this Laboratory than the Manhattan Project, which does some high level ant-terrorism work now - but I have a pacifist bias and thought that I’d rather stay away.

But the road was leading us right toward Los Alamos. I didn’t take any photos because I was told not to. As we approached I began seeing the signs for Laboratories - like Labs 4, 8, 11, 17, and 42. Buildings (labs) were hidden back in the trees. Then another road and sign that read: Labs 6,14,72, and 53. Definitely no rhyme or order that I could discern for the numbers of the labs.

Then we come to a road block, like those in Europe when you are entering another country, and a guard who asks for our id’s and my camera! I was a little perturbed. “We’re just following the map, trying to get over to Santa Fe.”   Evidently we were entering the Laboratory area through a little used back road.

“You’re on government property here, Ma'am. No photos allowed. Drive down to the T and turn left. You’ll be followed by surveillance cameras.”

Gee. No government shutdown here.

We did as we were told and actually spent the night in Los Alamos at the Comfort Inn. A big Smith’s grocery store there where we could get artisan bread and a bottle of wine.

The woman at the desk told us that there was a museum downtown telling the history of how the bomb was made. It was open, even though all the national parks and monuments in the area were still closed.