A Road Trip to New MexicoAugust 12-17, 2001NRAO and the Very Large Array Radio Telescope
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Thursday morning, after a few last minute errands in Santa Fe, I took off for Socorro and the Very Large Array Radio Telescope. Socorro is about 250 miles south down I-25, via Albuquerque. I-25 follows the course of the Rio Grande straight down the middle of New Mexico all the way to Las Cruces and El Paso, where it becomes the Texas border with Mexico. Since I did not leave until after noon, I started to get hungry. So, following the signs, I got off the freeway and immediately got lost! Fortunately, I chanced upon a likely looking place called Swel's Family Restaurant, somewhere south of Albuquerque, and had a nice lunch of New Mexico style Mexican food with sopapillas and honey for desert. The waitress was very nice, too. It often pays to take a chance. It certainly beat Denny's. The Very Large Array, or the VLA as it is known, is situated on US 60 just west of the small mining town of Magdalena, NM, and about 60 miles west of Socorro. Socorro itself is a pretty nasty place, but the scenery along the highway approaching the VLA was typical New Mexico. The VLA is the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, or NRAO. This, the world's largest radio-telescope array, is open for self-guided walking tours daily. Their website is www.nrao.edu. After my visit, I headed east on US 380 via Carrizozo, to spend the night in Roswell. HomeUnless otherwise indicated: |
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