White’s City and the first time I went camping

Posted on March 31, 2014 by sumi

Turns out I didn’t need to stop in Roswell. There were aliens in White’s City as well.

And a bear for good measure.

White’s City, not Carlsbad, is the closest city to the Carlsbad Cavern. Carlsbad is actually 25 miles away. Though I don’t know if it’s technically a city. There’s not much there other than a motel, an RV park, a gas station, gift shop and a restaurant.

White’s City is named after Charlie White, not related to James White (the guy credited with exploring Carlsbad Caverns.) Charlie White was just some dude who moved from Kentucky to New Mexico to cure his tuberculosis, and decided there was an opportunity for money-making outside the Carlsbad Caverns. I guess that wasn’t worth much to his descendants, who put it up for auction a few years ago.

So we’re camping here for the night before going to Carlsbad Caverns the next day. And it’ll be my first time camping!

I’m excited!

Here’s our tent. We were only one of three campers.

And I claimed my sleeping bag right away.

This is going to be fun. What great bear bonding!

And tomorrow, Carlsbad Caverns!

Roswell

Posted on March 31, 2014 by sumi

Roswell is not a one trick pony. They’ve got military boarding schools, petroleum production, ranching and all of that stuff.

But you sure wouldn’t know it driving by. The whole town is in on the aliens.

Even the McDonald’s is UFO themed.

Too bad all the effort went into appearances and not the customer service at that McDonald’s.

Life on the highway

Posted on March 31, 2014 by sumi

And we’re back on the road!

New Mexican restaurants

Posted on March 29, 2014 by sumi

Today, we hung out again with one of the men behind all that giant pulsed power machine (aka, almost like a laser). We got a tour thanks to Nicholas’ Uncle Frank. I love that my best bear bud knows a Laser Scientist. And today, Uncle Frank took us to try something else – New Mexican food.

For the most part, New Mexican food is a lot like Mexican food, but they’ve got a few specialties like sopapillas, which is a type of fried bread that you eat with honey. I liked eating it with a lot of honey. We went to a place called Monroe’s, and aside from Sopapillas, they served us chips and salsa for breakfast. Even better.

Here’s what sopapillas look like.

And here’s my best bear bud with his uncle Frank.

Lasers. Really, really big ones.

Posted on March 25, 2014 by sumi

I just saw the big daddy of lightning canons. That’s not really a laser but it’s pretty darn close. My best bear bud and I got a private tour of the Pulse Powered Facility at the Kirkland Air Force Research Laboratory. The place looked right out of Tron. Here, I laid eyes on the Shiva Star. This thing is MASSIVE.

Imagine a machine capable of storing nearly 10 million joules of energy. And then being able to pulse 120,000 volts and 15 million amps in one millionth of a second towards an object. I don’t know what that means, but it sure sounds like a lot!

Anyway, any target of this machine stands no chance.

I got to feast my eyes on what little remained of a test cylinder, which was not much. The thing was compressed into almost nothingness.

I want this kind of power in my paws. I want Nicholas to make me my own Shiva Star. These guys are only using for research on how to achieve nuclear fusion. I’ve got so many better uses than that.

Time to start thinking.

And we have arrived to Albuquerque

Posted on March 24, 2014 by sumi

First stop, Joey’s. He and his wife Jill live in a very cute adobe house.

Immediate next stop – hotel room where I can get some much needed sleep to make up for the trauma of being forced to get up so darn early in the morning.

The rest of Albuquerque can wait.

Petrified National Forest – Painted Desert

Posted on March 24, 2014 by sumi

Last stop in the park was the Painted Desert, which is this massive expanse of stratified red stuff that covers several states. Supposedly it’s one of the more impressive features of the park but I was pretty worn out by the time we got here. So I took a look, tried to say hello to some Texans who gave blank stars back at me, then went back to the car.