Just Missed It

Unfortunately, I got to Amarillo too late and they were closed for the
night.

I hear the steaks here are quite good.

A Route 66 Trademark

Here

Previously known as the Ceremonial Cave it has been renamed as the
Alcove Cave since we now know that the kiva was used not only for
ceremonies.

Animal sighting update:

On the way down I encountered a non-poisenous and non-constricting
garter snake. Also wanted to mention that I spotted a jack rabbit
while I was up in the hot air balloon.

Ladders

Had to climb a series of ladders up the wall of the canyon to get to...

Bandalier

Los Alamos

Tuesday:

Naturally, with all the top secret programs going down the actual lab
is off limits. So the Bradbury Science Museum had to do.

Los Alamos was chosen as the site for Project Y of the Manhattan
Project because its location was remote and beautiful enough to do
outdoor testing year round. It was also enough of a desirable
location to satisfy the tastes of the "primadonna" scientists.

The museum is an exhibition for a lot of the technology and sciences
that have dominated the news of yesterday and today. All kinds of
weapons displays as well. One of the central responsibilities of the
lab is to maintain the U.S. Nuclear arsenal. I watched an interesting
film on how nuclear weapons are now tested as broken up individual
components since the Nuclear Test Ban is in effect.

Pictured here are warning leaflets to the Japanese at the end of WWII
right before the Cold War started.

Earthship Mansion

Eco Hummer

Runs on hydrogen and vegetable oil!

Earthships

Hanging Out On Mi Peublo

Monday:

They say 80-100 of the natives live in the village adobes year round.
The rest live comfortably in the town of Taos.

The pole is used during a ceremonial right of passage that boys go
through. Not many details were revealed about these rituals since
they prefer to keep everything a secret to the outside world. That
includes their language.

The village had a Spanish influenced church that was recently rebuilt
and honors the Virgin Mary and Guadeloupe. There was another older
church that sat next to a graveyard that was left in rubble after it
was bombed years ago. Many, many craft shops in the pueblo.

It's A Celebration

Customary to all post flights is a ceremonial champagne toast.

Even better, if you land the balloon in someone's backyard you owe
them a bottle of the bubbly.

The owner knew the deal. He was waiting for us when we landed.

Pictured here are Ed and Dave, who run the whole operation.

Balloon View

The Rio Grande Gorge.

We dropped down all the way and rested right on the river and floated
for a few moments. Ed, the operator of this excursion, called it a
"splash and dash".

Filler' Up

Check back later for commentary and analysis.

Sunday in Taos, NM

I'm way behind on updates... Here's some photos from the last few days to whet your appetite.