Megan’s Take
Today we went to Valles Caldera National Preserve. These are the views we’ve been longing for!
There is a very cool, high tech “volcano discovery center” that provides simulations of how this area formed. The kids enjoyed watching volcanic explosions over and over again.
We hiked 1.5 miles on the Cerro la Jarra loop. It had beautiful views of the surrounding area, but the kids were bored. It was too flat. They want hikes with rocks, tree roots, and elevation changes. The surrounding prairie dog colony provided some entertainment, but they’re so good at warning each other that they ran into their dens as soon as they heard our children.
We did some rock hunting in national forest area, and I think I found volcanic rock / obsidian – nothing spectacular. The kids and I enjoyed it, though. It was a beautiful picnic area with plenty of shady trees and boulders for Emmett and Emilia to play “rock house” on when they were done picking through rocks.
This afternoon, we visited the Bradbury Science Museum and saw some of the historical buildings on Bathtub Row in Los Alamos. I’m itching to watch Oppenheimer again!
Phil’s Take
This is the kind of stuff we want to see on a trip like this. The views yesterday and today were amazing. I know the pictures don’t do this place justice, but here’s a panorama from an overlook of the caldera that hopefully captures some of it.
And here’s another taken from the base of that little mountain you see on the left.
The Volcano Discovery Center was actually quite incredible for such a place. It’s not even a national park, although it is managed by the National Park Service, but it has the most technologically advanced interpretive display I recall seeing at the visitor center of any national park.
Our trek out of here to do rock hounding was also beautiful. I’m reminded a little of our experience in the Sawtooth Mountains and Beartooth Mountains areas we did on our first sabbatical trip. Just because it’s not a national park doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful and worth seeing. This wasn’t that awesome, but still better than most of the rest of the trip.
After seeing their little 15 minute history video of the Manhattan Project, I definitely have the itch to watch Oppenheimer again. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.
Here’s the gallery for today.
