The 2011 Griswold Family Vacation pt. 8

Fifteen years ago, The Wife and I made a spur-of-the-moment decision in Phoenix to turn east instead of south, so as to pass through the UFO mecca of Roswell, New Mexico, on our way home from our honeymoon. It was an opportunity to take in some silly kitsch while avoiding endless monotonous miles of travel on I-10. It turned out to be one of our best random choices ever, not because of Roswell, but because of this:

Driving through the flat desert way back when, we spotted something on the horizon. Something pretty big. "What the heck is that?" As we got closer, we saw more appear, and eventually it dawned on me--we had stumbled upon the Very Large Array. Talk about happy accidents! At the time, we didn't know if it was open to the public, and hadn't planned for the visit, but we drove past in awe, marveling at the enormous dishes. This year, we did plan ahead, and turned off the highway to the small, unstaffed visitor center.

Having just driven past the ominous and harrowing Wallow Fire, with the massive smoke cloud still blotting out much of the western sky, the VLA was a welcome respite. There is a self-guided walking tour that leads you through the observatory's grounds, and the complex is mighty impressive (not to mention isolated).

One misconception we had dispelled right away is the idea that the dishes are permanently mounted on the railroad tracks. Not true. There are rail cars that move the dishes, true, but when in place for observations, the dishes are disengaged from the rail cars and mounted semi-permanently on concrete pylons. The railroad tracks, I have to say, appear to stretch out forever. In the movie Contact, the filmmakers digitally copied the dishes to make the numbers look more impressive. After standing there and looking the place over, we could understand why--the distances are so vast that even the enormous dishes appear tiny so far away.

Interestingly enough, I saw more pronghorn antelope this day than I've seen the rest of my life combined. In that, the pronghorns and Lubbock dust devils from day 1 share something in common. We saw several herds of pronghorn along the side of highway 60 approaching the VLA, and this one was content to trot along in the shadows of the dishes, stopping every so often to graze or watch the silly tourists take its picture. We saw many more pronghorn herds after we left, and after nightfall even saw a gemsbok oryx grazing beside the road (sadly, no photos of that one).

Amazingly enough, the kids didn't fight or squabble or cause one of the multi-million-dollar dishes to collapse in a pile of ruined scrap metal. They were duly impressed, although the wonder of it all did gradually fade to be replaced with a desire to go. Personally, I could've spent hours and hours there, shooting from all different vantage points. We saw the dishes change direction twice, which is a spooky and amazing scene to watch when those massive machines pivot in unison. They're remarkably silent when they do it as well. The Bug even found something to keep himself entertained--he captured a wild tumbleweed, and named it "Signal" in honor of the VLA. He's since tamed it and plays with it on occasion, although he warns me not to pet it if he's not around, because "Signal may bite."

After that much scientific spectacle, we needed something to cleanse the palate, so to speak. After pulling into Roswell close to midnight and crashing at the hotel, we got up the next morning and hit the UFO Museum, which is very straight-faced and serious, followed up by the Alien Zone/Area 51 Museum, which is infinitely less reputable and a hundred times cheesier than its counterpart a couple blocks down the street. Having partaken in our daily allotment of cornball rubber aliens, we headed for home. I'm happy to report that the final leg of our trip was uneventful, except grass fires every two miles the final hour we spent in New Mexico, and a blowout on I-10 just south of Comfort at 11 p.m. that I had the rare honor of changing in the dark with cars and trucks whizzing past at 70 miles per hour. So, where should we go for vacation next year?

A full gallery of road trip photos can be found here.
The 2011 Griswold Family Adventure pt. 1
The 2011 Griswold Family Adventure pt. 2
The 2011 Griswold Family Adventure pt. 3
The 2011 Griswold Family Adventure pt. 4
The 2011 Griswold Family Adventure pt. 5
The 2011 Griswold Family Adventure pt. 6
The 2011 Griswold Family Adventure pt. 7

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