Blog 50: Sounds like a season on Breaking Bad, but instead is a weekend trip to The Trinity Site, White Sands National Monument and a couple of Pueblo Ruins.
Still sick, but pushing forward…I probably won’t be as witty, and maybe even more incoherent (if that’s possible)
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So I had a very busy weekend planned last week…and actually did everything I wanted. Pretty sweet.
There will be some stories to tell…but mostly just photos. In fact I have soooo many nice photos that I might spread this post over a couple of days.
We start at the Trinity Site. The site of the first Atomic bomb testing. It is only open 2 days a year for the public and is smack dab in the middle of nowhere…and right in the middle of a military base.
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And yes the site is too far away for riding on the Electric bike…soooooo…
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At the site…behind the bike is Jumbo….Aptly named as it almost got me in a jumbo amount of trouble.
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I thought, “Wow, It will be cool to take a photo of the Enertia inside of Jumbo. I’ll just sit here on the bike and take my turn…”
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Video of me riding from truck around the parking area and stopping in front of Jumbo to get a photo.
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Of course the Military Police did not agree with me and A) wouldn’t let me ride the Enertia into Jumbo and B) told me to go park the bike as this area was for people walking.
I have to admit that I thought it would be less crowded. The Trinity Site is far far from everything. I thought there would be a couple of dozen people spread out over the day. Instead the parking lot was full and there were likely a couple of thousand people just during the time I was there.
So I parked my bike a little bit away…hoping to catch a slow point to grab a couple of more photos.
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The bike did get a far amount of attentions. lots of questions, a few people sitting on her, etc etc.
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and I was able to get right up by the gate that leads to the short walk to the actual bomb site.
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And I thought, Hmmm, I could move the bike a bit and get a couple of more shots…and that was my downfall.
The same Military Police Officer saw me and started walking really fast toward me and held out his arm and did the universal sign for “Get your ASS over here right NOW.” And I can say that Military Police are not something I have any real experience with. The do take their job very seriously. They do not have much of a sense of humor nor an ability to handle change or an unexpected situation. Being rigid is probably a necessity for the job. I tend to think I can talk my way into and out of just about any situation. But on a Military base….not so much.
Now I was going to give a long run down of what happened next, but my head cold is telling me to get moving on. So long story short: I got a good “talking” to. Was almost thrown out, possibly arrested. Had left my license in the truck, wasn’t wearing my helmet…etc etc. Finally I was told to put the bike on the truck and then I could stay and finish the tour. Which was nice. I would not be able to get good bike photos, but I still could get some nice photos from Trinity and do a proper tour of the site.
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Ground Zero Plaque
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Trinity Site Marker.
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A close up…then off to…
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Fat Man…not me, but getting there 😦
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Self Portrait of a Man, a Bomb, a Marker and a Mountain.
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Next stop at Trinity was a Bus Ride to McDonald Ranch House. The house is 10,000 yards from the bomb site and was the place military and scientists watched from. Not nearly far enough in my opinion. But the first bomb was rather small, as far as Nuclear Bombs are concerned.
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Nice Panorama leading out to the Ranch house. I am in love, as you will see later, with Panorama. Works great in New Mexico.
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Leaving the Ranch House
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Next was driving to White Sands National Monument.
But that involves many many more photos…and my helium and mucous filled head is telling me to stop and do that tomorrow.
I will share with you about my bonus photo from yesterday.
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Take this:
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Search the internet for images of the guy trying to break the record for jumping from a balloon. That should be this weekend down in Roswell, New Mexico. Find this:
He is basically doing the jump in a space suit.
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Extract, resize and add some motion artifact to falling man and you get the finished photo…voila.
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Next Time: White Sands. Pueblo Ruins. And hopefully a clearer head.
Gavin
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Bonus….
Wonderful Sunset down in Alamogordo. I was leaving White Sands and driving back to my motel Saturday night when I had to stop and take a few photos.
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When we have clouds at sunset we often get pinks, salmon, gold and purple colors. It crazy. When I first moved here I saw a collection of New Mexico art that had the sky Purple, Red, Pink and Orange and I thought, “How gaudy. Why would somebody use those colors?” And now I know.
Sol Power--BrammoBlog.com 