Los Alamos to Taos, New Mexico. No warnings apply.

Los Alamos never fails to sober me, not that such measures are often necessary.

Hans Bethe house. Please double-check this math for me.

Typical Cold War provisions, I'm told. We made do with wooden school desks.

 

Oppenheimer house. Still occupied, so only fence paparazzi are welcome.

I asked the director of the Hans Bethe house to recommend the best starter book for the Manhattan Project; she suggested 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos, by Jennet Conant.

Leaving Los Alamos was much easier than getting in. Less than an hour later, we were indulging in cheap gasoline in Espanola.

We made the quick trip from Espanola, NM to the Orilla Verde Recreation Area. Wolfgang mentioned that he had never realized camping was available down this canyon road, so now he knows. We chose the Pilar Campground for its easy parking and available electric sites.

San Francisco de Asis Mission Church

San Francisco

We did spend some time in downtown Taos, as one does, and then I suggested we escape to Arroyo Seco and the Taos Cow. 

Taos traffic severed my last nerve, and this is how the frenzy perpetuates. A crazed driver temporarily throws his body at his horn, and the recipient passes it on to the next hapless driver. I love Taos, but its intractable congestion is putting it out of the relaxation zone.

Swimming hole!

The Rio Grande Canyon was beautiful, though, and at some point unknown to me becomes The Rio Grande Gorge.

Los Alamos, New Mexico. All of the beauty, none of the crowds

Los Alamos, New Mexico, is a long drive from anywhere you are, unless you're in Los Alamos. That's a big part of its charm, and a major reason it has the history it has. It needed to be geographically isolated. It doesn't need to be anymore, it just is, and residents like it that way fine, thanks.

Penny acting like she had shared the driving. Cat, please.

We got back two days ago, and I'm still feeling the effects of that marathon drive. Ironically, it makes me sit around. If I had been alone, a stopover or two would have been required.

The Rio Grande, looking full and sassy.

If you need me, I'll just be sitting around indoors, relishing the unlimited internet and heat that just comes right out of the ceiling! You've heard of Shangri-La; I'm living it.

Tell me where you like to boondock (with toilets) near Prescott, AZ. Por favor, sil vous plait. I've never been there, and I hear Joe calling my name. You know him as Trader Joe, but you're not close like we are.

What happens in Los Alamos stays in Los Alamos.

That's my motto, and was almost the official motto of the town during World War II. These days, it's just the bawdy jokes and rowdy behavior of four middle-aged women that need to stay top-secret.

Hypothetically, if I were talking, I might say we visited the Bradbury Science Museum. The above video is shown there on the big screen.

Other plausible scenarios involve watching sandhill cranes swoop and hover and make a racket for our entertainment. For example. If I were saying.

Karma

Lori, Jeannie, and Pat

Lori is my cousin, and Pat is my cousin by marriage, and also Lori's cousin by marriage because Lori and I married brothers who were Pat's cousins. [Not shown: Lori's sister (my cousin) who married a third brother.] Lori starts explaining by saying IT'S NOT INCESTUOUS! Which makes people think about how it's probably incestuous. 

Lori asked to see my Datil cabin, and I was glad to oblige. I wanted Lori and Datil Betty to meet; both have been so extremely good to me.

[I'm going to refer to Betty that way now.]

We drove and drove and drove for about eleven hours today. Coherence not guaranteed.