Bandelier - dwellings in the cliffWe continued on to Los Alamos, New Mexico, stopping at the Bradbury Science Museum, which is the visitor center for the labs here. This is the place where they brought the scientists together to develop the atomic bomb during World War II. The movie, “The Town that Never Was”, is interesting. The town was in an area that Dr. Oppenhiemer had visited as a sickly child. It was isolated, yet close enough to the roads and a railroad. What I found particularly fascinating was the entire town had one PO box number in Sante Fe as their address, many birth certificates also were issued with this address. Of course, the story of developing the bomb is well told in the museum, including the controversy of whether the bomb should have been used at all. They also have copies of some of the original letters around the entire project, such as the letter from Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt that an atomic bomb is possible and Germany may be developing one. The museum also has a display around much of the current work going on there in biology and the human genome project.
Just a few miles down the road is Bandelier National Monument. The highlight of the park is a 1.2 mile trail visiting the various Ancient Pueblo dwellings. The homes here are different than the ones we’re familiar with at Mesa Verde. The cliffs here are made of volcanic tuff, a soft soil that is filled with holes and easily dug. So many of the dwelling were built up against the cliff face using caves into the cliff as the backrooms. Nearer the creek bed are the remainders of a large circular pueblo with three kivas, this was built later. As against many other places we’ve seen cliff dwellings, why people built here is very obvious. The Frijoles creek runs year round, and it has a variety of plants and trees growing there. It’s a beautiful area which sharply contrasts to the desert areas on the canyon rim. If I lived in this area, this is where I would build a home. By the way, the campground here was just rebuilt, all the roads and sites were re-done last year.
Just a few miles down the road is Bandelier National Monument. The highlight of the park is a 1.2 mile trail visiting the various Ancient Pueblo dwellings. The homes here are different than the ones we’re familiar with at Mesa Verde. The cliffs here are made of volcanic tuff, a soft soil that is filled with holes and easily dug. So many of the dwelling were built up against the cliff face using caves into the cliff as the backrooms. Nearer the creek bed are the remainders of a large circular pueblo with three kivas, this was built later. As against many other places we’ve seen cliff dwellings, why people built here is very obvious. The Frijoles creek runs year round, and it has a variety of plants and trees growing there. It’s a beautiful area which sharply contrasts to the desert areas on the canyon rim. If I lived in this area, this is where I would build a home. By the way, the campground here was just rebuilt, all the roads and sites were re-done last year.
Pueblo buildings below the cliffs
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