We had a relatively short drive today from Gallup, NM to Los Alamos, NM.  Once again, we were treated to some very beautiful scenery.  This trip has taken us through a wonderful variety of geographical terrain.  

Righty ho.  So we arrived in Los Alamos to visit the Manhattan Project National Historical Park just on quarter to one, ready to hit the Subway for lunch, and we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a mad scene from some absurdist drama.  The main road through town was closed--big barriers and many guys in yellow safety vests waving everyone off.  We also found ourselves in the middle of a traffic jam which we did not expect from a town of just over 12,000 people.  In the middle of the day.  On a school day.  We found another way to the Subway, but when we walked in, we were faced with a line, I kid you not, of at least 30 people waiting to order.  Well, you can forget that noise.

Plan B:  we'll go park at the park visitor's center and find out what is available to visit and what the heck is going on in town. Parking was not a picnic, but we lucked into a space because someone was leaving.  Turns out it's Homecoming Weekend, and the whole town goes bananas for at least two days. Central Avenue was closed because the Homecoming Parade would begin about 2:30, and the droves of people all around us were converging on the site, scoping out good places to plonk their chairs and sit and wait to pour adulation on the heads of a bunch of 15-17-year-old boys.  Oy.  

We toured the NHP visitor's center, which is very small, and asked what there is to see related to the Manhattan Project.  The answer was "not much" (the volunteer literally said that). There is a short walking tour of a few buildings that were used to house scientists during the Manhattan Project, and there are two museums:  the Bradbury Science Museum with the park film (we visited here last time we were in town), and a small Los Alamos History Museum.  (Very small.)  We also got two recommendations for lunch, both in easy walking distance.  We thought they might be overrun, as the Subway was, due to the mobs amassing for the parade, but we checked.   First one was, indeed, overrun.  Second one looked less overrun but had a 25-30-minute wait.  As it was now 1:30, we decided to punt.

That left us with the Sonic Drive-In.  We ate at a Sonic Drive-In once, many years ago.  This lack of experience proved problematic, as when we ordered our food, we did not realize that it came pre-loaded with a bunch of condiments that were not actually listed on the board.  My hot dog was drowned in onions and pickle relish (I poured off 3/4 of it), and, horror of horrors, it had catsup on it!  Gross!  Never catsup on hot dogs--mustard!  There was a good bit of mustard, which drowned out most of the catsup flavor, so it was edible--just.  The chocolate milkshake made up for it.  Note to self:  if you ever go to Sonic again, specify MUSTARD ONLY on the hot dog!

After lunch, we felt fortified enough to try to find a parking place and take the little self-guided tour.  We lucked into another space, and set out, winding our way through the crowds still waiting for the parade.   One of the reasons the Manhattan Project was established in Los Alamos is that there was an extensive network of buildings and various facilities there associated with the Los Alamos Ranch School, a private school for boys which was established in 1917. The US Army bought the whole thing lock, stock and barrel in 1942 for the Manhattan Project.

The choice of site was made by Brigadier General Leslie Groves, in part because of all the housing that was available because of the school.  There is a funny story in the visitor center about the population growth--I think the population prior to the Army taking over was about 1000, and a year later it was over 5000. One thing that started happening was the birth of a good many babies--10 a month.  Apparently Graves was quite upset about this because he felt that people were taking advantage of their access to the military hospital.  Maybe, but it seems more likely to me that they were all stuck out there in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of New Mexico and found a way to entertain themselves.

There was also a funny story about the fact that every person on the post had a mailing address of a single post office box.  All mail was, naturally, censored.  Anyway:  Sears Roebuck apparently complained about being asked to send 400 catalogs to a single address.  I wonder how they explained that to Sears without giving up the secret.

This branch of the project was headed by Robert Oppenheimer, and it was here that the actual bombs were made, incrluding both Fat Man and Little Boy.  The Oak Ridge, TN site that we visited in 2019 (log entry here) was where they worked on enriching the uranium. The third site, in Hanford, WA, produced plutonium.  We have not visited that site, but one day....

After we took the walking tour, we made our way through the parade (which had begun) and back to the car.  We were able to do so without attracting the ire of the watchers because there was a long gap between the player-show-off-mobile and the cheerleaders.  We then headed to the hotel to check in.  A little while later, we set out to go to the one and only laundromat in town to take care of our planned laundry stop.   We headed out the front door of the hotel and were confronted with a massive traffic jam.  It was inconceivably snarled for a town this size--two lanes of stop-and-go traffic as far as you could see.  It was too early for rush hour, and in any case, was headed the wrong way--toward where the Los Alamos lab work is done today, instead of back into town.  We thought maybe the parade had ended and everyone was headed to the high school, but when we got into the mess and finally made the turn we needed to make, the road took us right past the high school, and that is NOT where all those people were going.  The hotel clerk later confirmed that that mess was related to Homecoming, but he didn't know where they were going either.

In another bizarre turn, when we got to the laundromat, we discovered that it, and the whole strip mall that it was in was closed because, get this for our luck, they were repaving the parking lot.  Yeesh.  I suppose they thought this was the perfect day to do it, because everyone would be at the Homecoming Festivities.   My advice:  do not go to Los Alamos, NM, on Homecoming Weekend.  When I was a kid--and, indeed, at all the schools I taught at, the Homecoming Parade, if any, took place on the track around the football field.  I find it quite astonishing that anyone would shut down the whole town for this event.  But what do I know??

We headed back to the hotel, which has two washers and two dryers, and we paid more than we imagine it would have cost to do four loads of laundry.  One of the big problems was that it took twice through the dryer--even at high heat--to get a load dry.  The laundry took so long that we weren't able to go to a restaurant to eat dinner, as they all closed before we would be done, so we ordered takeout and ate in the breakfast room while our clothes went 'round and 'round in the dryer.

Our weird day in Lost Alamos ended with our laundry done, at least, so we have enough clothes to make it back home again.  

Tomorrow, we go to Valles Caldera National Preserve, a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains where a small piece of the television show Longmire was filmed.

Update:  Los Alamos creamed their opponent on Friday night for homecoming, 42-0.  I guess all the bruhaha paid off.