Visiting Trinity Site

On Saturday we went out to the site of the first A-bomb test (held July 16, 1945) called Trinity Site. It's in the middle of the White Sands Testing area (normally closed to the public). Twice a year the military opens the site for public visits so that we can see first-hand the effects of a relatively low-yield atomic bomb. The biggest reason that the site is closed to the public is because it is situated in a live munitions test range in a classified military area.

We hadn't planned our vacation to include this event, but we didn't have anything else to do, so we figured, what's an extra rem or two? Actually, the radiation dose we received from ground zero was very small — less, in an hour, than a typical medical x-ray. The natural radiation background is higher in other places in New Mexico than at Trinity Site, and we were probably exposed to more radiation on the airliners at 33,000 feet altitude going to and from New Mexico.

The site is about 35 miles from Socorro and draws a few thousand visitors during the April and October open houses. We met some friends for breakfast and then headed out across the desert flats. The tour included a visit to Ground Zero and the MacGregor/Schmidt ranch where the bomb was built. On our way back to Socorro we stopped for lunch before meeting our friends at the Saturday afternoon lectures for the Enchanted Skies Star Party.

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The Obelisk that stands where the bomb tower once stood at Ground Zero.	The black stone obelisk is a natural draw for crowd members interested in standing where the nuclear age began.	A closeup view of the plaque on the obelisk.
Mockup of another A-Bomb	A display model of the Fatman bomb dropped in Japan in August, 1945. We found it heartening to see children playing in the remains of the Jumbo casing that was suspended beneath the atom bomb when it was tested. Would that the whole world could beat swords into playground equipment...	Remnants of a bomb casing nicknamed Jumbo.

A soldier remembers	A soldier who was present during the 1945 test tells his story about The Day. He was nearly surrounded by about a hundred listeners and gave his presentation several times that day. The site was open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The A-Bomb Ranch House	The Schmidt-McGregor farm house, which was commandeered by the Manhattan project for the final assembly of the test bomb. Apparently the ranch buildings weren't harmed much by the blast (which occurred about 2 miles away), but time and wind have done more damage. It's a museum today.	What's left of the windmill.
The local flora and succulents	Creosote bushes and cacti thrive in the sandy desert testing range. Snakes, too, although we didn't see any.

Traditional stop at the Owl Bar

Of course we had to stop at the Owl Bar in San Antonio, New Mexico. Carolyn had visited there years before with the guys from Langmuir. Mark thought the green chile cheese burgers were pretty good! The place was really jumping due to all the extra business from the Trinity site tourists. After lunch we headed back to Socorro for an afternoon of lectures at the Enchanted Skies Star Party.

Mark at the Owl