Day 200

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Obfuscator writes: The day began with a fairly late departure from Socorro. We had grand ambitions though, which were not to be thwarted. 50 miles west of Socorro is the Very Large Array, an array of 27 huge radio telescopes that act together to make an even more powerful radio telescope. Lots of Sci-Fi movies have filmed at the VLA, so it's quite recognizable. What's not immediately apparent is how big the thing really is.

Each dish in the VLA has an 82 foot diameter, and weighs 230 tons. Shockingly, they're built to be mobile. The array has variable design along the railroad tracks they've built. It's always in a Y-shape, but the diameter can be as little as just over a mile, or as great as about 25 miles. The spacing of the dishes apparently influences the type of data they can get from them. So imagine, you're way out in the middle of nowhere New Mexico, and there's a huge field several miles across with huge antennae sitting in it. That's pretty much the effect you get when you're visiting the VLA.

One really nice things about it is that they have a great visitor's center and tour, and it's all free. As big fans of super-science who actually don't understand all that much of it, this site is a bit overwhelming, but in a good way. The visitor's center has some cool exhibits about radio telescopes in general, discoveries made by people using the VLA, and life working at the VLA. The walking tour outside will allow you to get some good looks at the array as a whole, and best of all, walk right up to the base of one of the antennae. It's yet another dwarfing experience. A short drive away from the Visitor's Center, you can also see the Antennae Assembly Building, or AAB, which is somewhat reminiscent of NASA's VAB at the Kennedy Space Center, but on a much smaller scale.

We left the VLA and headed back toward Socorro so that we could continue on to Albuquerque. We got sidetracked on the way in the small town of Magdalena with the promise of a near-by Ghost Town. Magdalena itself used to be a bustling railroad junction, and was pretty big. These days it's pretty down at the heel's. On the main drag (Hwy 60) we stopped at a little restaurant located in the old Bank Building. They don't take plastic, but the food was good and the portions were quite ample. A few miles to the south, past a lot gravel road, we sought out Kelly Ghost Town. We found the town, but were disappointed to learn that it was all on private property, and they wanted us to go back to town to get tickets. We decided that that was silly, and scouted around the area taking pictures for a while, before leaving. Kelly was another bustling town, until the mining dried up. Now it's a lot of ruins and abandoned buildings.

We continued on until Albuquerque, and found Petroglyph's National Monument. Unfortunately, we arrived there just before 5 PM, and everything was closing quite shortly. After a little debate, we decided to find the site of our next morning's activities, and found some nearby lodgings. We spent most of the evening solving technical problems and updating the blog, which was a success.

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