Andy’s Los Alamos Blog

When planning my trip to Los Alamos, I opted to hang out in Albuquerque for a day, to do a little exploring and get a sense of the southwest. Yesterday morning, I arrived at the Albuquerque International Sunport, checked into my hotel, and set off to see the city. A few people had recommended that I see the city’s “Old Town” as well as the National Atomic Museum located therein, so there I headed.

I happened upon the University of New Mexico campus on the way and wandered around a bit. It’s a beautiful place: old southwest architecture, ponds, fountains, rose gardens, etc. I picked up a copy of the “Daily Lobo” student newspaper, and while eating lunch at a tiny “cash only” Mexican place near downtown, noticed an article about an interesting local art gallery. I stopped in, saw two wonderful exhibits (one of artists with obsessive attention to detail, the other a retiring UNM art professor who paints with masking tape), then proceeded to the Atomic Museum. What a wonderful place! There’s something for everyone. A three year old would get a lot out of it, and yet they talk about things like Cherenkov radiation, and have real graphs of nuclear packing fractions. I learned that the NaK molecule I was researching last semester is important in breeder reactors (nuclear reactors that re-use the plutonium generated from fission of uranium). Be sure to visit the Atomic Museum if you’re ever in the area.

On my way back from the museum and strolling down an alleyway, I heard music, and stumbled upon the three-hundred-first fiesta for the San Felipe de Neri church, the oldest church in Albuquerque. I listened to local music, watched local flamenco dancers dance to local flamenco artists, sampled the local cuisine, and met some very nice local people. Incredibly, when the priest who opened to fiesta called everyone “members of the San Felipe family,” he meant it. I, some kid from Pennsylvania amid people whose tradition this had been since they were born, was treated as part of the family. I am humbled by the strong sense of community, tradition, and cultural identity of the people of Old Town, and their graciousness in accepting others’ cultures. This was a truly wonderful and inpiring experience.

This afternoon, I leave Abluquerque to take a shuttle (?) up to Los Alamos, and move into my apartment for the rest of the summer. Look for more posts soon as I explore Los Alamos. The physics starts Monday!