The VLA and driving around Arizona

Yesterday, I got up early, and since I was a little ahead of where I’d planned to be, I decided to take a side trip to see the Very Large Array radio telescope, about 40 miles west of Socorro, NM. It was really cool. I am glad they let the public see it, because it’s pretty interesting…most people think of telescopes as looking at visible light, but that’s only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. This telescope sees radio waves. And it harnesses the 27 disks in a Y formation to see as if it had a much bigger antenna. Each antenna dish is 27m across…the size of a baseball diamond.

Also, while I was there, I got to see a few jackrabbits up close. They’re quite a big rabbit…in fact, when they’re walking on all fours, the look like a small deer. I thought it was cool to work in a place with interesting wildlife.

Then I left the VLA and headed toward Albuquerque, trying to decide what to do with the rest of my day. I finally decided to head toward flagstaff and see the Petrified Forest on my way. Well, I got there 5 minutes before they closed (I’d thought close was at sunset), and got denied. So I drove about 20 more miles and ended up in the town of Holbrook, AZ.

In general, here are some things I noticed along my drive today:

The hills/mountains all had a strange pyramidal shape. I guess since they were bare rock, the just erode differently than a hill that’s help together with vegetation.

The wind is amazing…it’s almost like being on a Carribbean island, with the onshore wind very constant. I can see how things out here get weathered so fast with the wind always blowing briskly, picking up sand and scouring everything.

I saw my first two tumbleweeds…they were a bit bigger than a basketball and just rolled across the road.

Also, I was introduced to mesas for the first time. It is so weird seeing a hill that goes up, up, up into what should be a crest, then to see a flat table top. Some seemed as neatly sliced off as if it’d been done with a knife…others where a little more rounded.

Today, I’m headed over to the grand canyon, where I’ll stay for three days. I’m not sure of the wifi situation there, so I may not write again until I hit Vegas on the 11th. It’s in the 20’s at night at GC, but I have plenty of blankets and my trusty 15 degree bag.