On Wednesday Ronnie and I went to the National Atomic Museum, (soon to be renamed the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History), now located in old-town Albuquerque along museum row. Among other exhibits, they have extensive historical information on the creation of the first atomic bombs. Here is a picture of Ronnie with a replica of Fat Man, the first plutonium weapon, tested at Trinity in July 1945. Ronnie got a picture of me with the Little Boy replica, which used uranium, the technology of which was sufficiently known that it did not need to be tested.
One Friday, Ronnie, Faye, Becky, Amelia, and I took the trip up to Taos.
When we came alongside the Rio Grande River north of Santa Fe, the cottonwoods
were just turning yellow-gold, and so I took a lot of pictures of them.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
These four pictures were taken from a turnout near where the
First Gaging Station
was established by the US Geological Survey in 1889. Oh, and that is Becky
lending addtional interest to the sign. Continuing on a few miles, we
stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge Visitor Center, and there were more nice
scenes of turning
leaves. Then I backed off the zoom, and got a more comprehensive shot
including the ladies,
Becky, Amelia, and Faye.
We had lunch in Taos, and on the way back to the town square, I saw this
Painted Lady on a
sunflower. Then I got a photo op with
Ronnie and Faye
that I couldn't resist. You don't mind if a brag a little about that one,
do you? On the way out of town, we stopped at
San Francisco de Asis;
more pictures and information can be found on the
Great Buildings site.
Sunday morning Becky, Amelia, and I met Eric, Marta, and Melinda at the
Range Cafe (Wyoming Street one) for brunch. Very, very good, but I might
have eaten too much. Afterwards, I lined everyone up in the parking lot,
put the camera on the box of a pickup, and took this picture of
Melinda, Marta, Eric,
Becky, Amelia, and myself. As we went over to our car, I spotted this
Praying Mantis on
one of the pillars of the shopping center. Biggest one I've ever seen,
about 2.5 inches long. In the afternoon Melia, Becky, and I went to the
Rio Grande Botanic Garden. Lots of nice flowers and other flora and
fauna. Naturally, I shot a few pictures:
flower garden,
more flower garden,
unusual flowers,
blue flowers,
look like trumpets,
lush flowers,
unusual "little boats",
rabbit ear cactus, and the
Queen Victoria Agave.
No, I don't know how Queen Victoria got an agave from the Central
Chichuahuan Desert named after her. On the way out of the Garden, we saw this
mighty sculpture.
Later in the afternoon we went over to see
Tracy and Brian.
On Monday I got a chance to get off by myself, and went out to see the J&R Vintage Auto Museum. They have a nice collection of mostly prewar (WW II) automobiles. There are a couple of things emphasized - Model Ts and cars that have run in the Great American Race, some driven by the owners of the museum. First car in the door is this 1902 Curved Dash Oldsmobile, and parked just beyond are four Model Ts, and here is one of the older ones close up, and one of the newer ones. Moving on to even newer things, here's a 1932 Ford V-8 Sport Coupe. This 1935 Ford Roadster is identified as the the third year of the Ford flathead V-8. Probably the fourth year, since the first year was 1932. But, don't feel bad, I've seen 1934s listed as the first year for the flathead V-8 in another museum. The museum has a number of old trucks, with one of the more unusual (to me, anyway) being this 1934 Buddy Stewart vegetable wagon. Sharp eyes might have seen this car in the background, a 1938 Buick Century phaeton. It cost $1713 in 1938, and can be had for a mere $50,000 today. Only 208 cars like this were made. Incidentally, all the cars in the museum are for sale. Another unusual car is this 1927 Marmon. This 1916 Model T has an overhead valve engine (sorry, don't know whether the conversion was done when it was a contemporary car, or whether it was a later conversion). This 1931 Model A has a soft top. This 1917 Marmon won the 1995 Great Race. There are 7 or 8 other cars in the museum that have raced in the Great Race in various years.
Leaving the museum, I stopped and took this picture of the Sandias.