Touring Atomic New Mexico and the State’s Surrounding Attractions
This story was written in December 1991. At that time, I was a high school junior, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, working for the New Mexico State Historical Society. I had just completed my final year of high school, and was on the cusp of graduation. I spent the year at the Santa Fe Science Teachers’ Training Institute with my classmates.
On Christmas Day, I was to move back to Los Alamos to be a research technician at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the physics department. I had my first look at atomic research, and I realized then that I wanted to be a lifelong amateur of physics.
I came to New Mexico in February to try to find a job in the Los Alamos lab. However, I was not allowed to work as a technician because this was the only type of employee who was allowed entry to the laboratory.
I went back to the library and found a pamphlet about the NMSHS, which was the research library for the Laboratory. It was not just a pamphlet, but a booklet containing information about the entire library system of the Laboratory. Each week, I would meet with different people in the library, and a lot of them would ask me where I lived. The response would be, “In Albuquerque, New Mexico.” I knew there was no such place as Albuquerque. But they all believed the stories of my high school experience.
During my first winter in Albuquerque, I spent my time on the streets, sitting on park benches in front of the Santa Fe Art Museum and looking at the paintings by Pablo Ruiz of the Santa Fe School of Folk Music.
It was in the very beginning of my time in Albuquerque, and I had already become friends with the first members of the band, the Santa Fe Rockers. Through our association, I joined the Rockers, and the
