It feels like it has taken forever, but my house finally closed today.  I moved to Albuquerque more than a year ago.  I am so excited that it is finally gone!!

It made a great first house.  I learned so much I know things I will look for in my next house… things I liked and things I didn’t.

I made some mistakes in the buying process.  I was too excited to be getting a house and failed to check it out as much as I should have.  To be honest though, I didn’t know what I should be looking for.  I’m sure I’ll make mistakes on the next house I buy, but they won’t be the same mistakes.

All in all though, it was a cozy place for me.  It was home for many years for me.  It’s a place that has many, many memories for me.  I wrote a post some time ago about being grateful for my house.  Reading it now brings back how grateful I am that I lived there for so long.

Over the last year, when I have gone down to do things on my house, it definitely has still felt like my house.  Everything about it is familiar.  I know the exact shade of paint on the walls, and the shade of paint under the top layer and the shade of paint under the layer under the top layer.

But when I’m gone, I don’t miss it.  My house in Albuquerque feels like home now too.  It’s not even technically my house; it’s just a rental.

I felt a little sad the last time I left my house.  I hope the new owner takes care of the little tree in the back yard.

But today, I didn’t stop by the house at all.  I just went to the title company and signed the papers.  Today, I am grateful for what it was for me and also relieved and grateful that it’s not something I have to worry about anymore.  No more maintenance or utility bills for a house I’m not living in.  No more having it on the back of my mind.

I feel… free.

And I am glad to be one step closer to whatever comes next.  While I’m not quite sure what that is going to be, I have some ideas about what it is shaping up to look like.  I think the future is going to hold good things for me.

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Some years ago, my obsession for travel was really sparked.  Sure, I traveled for work before that and had enjoyed some other fun trips in my life.  When my obsession was really sparked was when I first discovered the Oklahoma State Parks and the fact that many of them had affordable, cozy cabins in gorgeous locations.  For several years, I’d been staying in one motel after another on my trips to Oklahoma, rushing from one work site to the next.  Then I discovered what I had been missing and the worst of it was that the State Parks are all on the map that I had used on all my trips.  Information is available on them at the Tourist Information centers in the state- places I’d never previously thought to stop at.  That made me wonder what I was missing in my own area.

For a while, I developed an obsession with the brochures, maps and magazines made for tourists.  I’d pick up a copy of each available and browse over them later, planning the places I wanted to see on my next trip.  (Eventually, it became clear that this collection wasn’t helping me and I threw away a lot of them.  But I still have a drawer or two in one of my filing cabinets filled with my favorites and I haven’t done away with the related travel obsession at all.)  During this time, I also stopped at the local Visitor’s Center for Socorro and collected the brochures for the area.

I also went to the nearby Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and collected all of their brochures.  One such was the brochure for the Chupadera Peak trail.  I knew then that I wanted to make the climb.  It lingered in the back of my mind for years.  More recently, I ran across the brochure again when I pulled out my information on the Bosque to find the one for the Canyon Trail.  I pulled out the Chupadera Peak brochure at the same time and left it lying on an end table in my living room.

Earlier this month, Sam and I decided we were going to go do it.  The Chupadera Peak trail is starts at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. It follows across mostly flat land for a couple of miles, goes under the interstate, enters the Chupadera wilderness area, goes up a wash for a few miles and then up to the peak.  Having done the hike before, Sam recommended we just park on the interstate and go from there, saving ourselves a few miles.  This is probably not the official thing that I’m supposed to recommend one do, but it seems to be kind of a thing.

This trail winds up through very deserty terrain- filled with cactus and other deserty plants I should know the names of, but don’t.  It is definitely not the sort of hike I’d recommend in the summer.  An early November day however turned out to be perfect for it.  We had gorgeous weather for it- partly cloudy/partly sunny and warm, but not too warm.

The first few miles of the trail slope gently upward, partly following the wash.  Then the trail winds up through a cool canyon with red rock walls that make one think, “I’d like to go explore up in there.”

Once out of the canyon, the trail continues to wind up… and up… and up.  Every time I’d think, the top has to be just a bit further and when I’d get up to where I’d been able to see to, I’d see that I still had further up to climb.  It seemed as though each step higher provided a more sweeping view of the landscape below.  Once you get closer to the top of the peak, it becomes possible to see the Magdalena Mountains to the east.  Looking the other way, I could see the ponds and the fall colors of the Bosque del Apache down in the valley.  It made me wonder if one could see the birds taking off from there.

Chupadera Peak Pictures

Click on a thumbnail to view the larger version

We ate sandwiches and chocolate mint cookies at the top.  We drank water, and leaned against our packs, soaking up the sun.  Finally, we decided it was time to head down since it was late afternoon and the sun would soon be setting.

Almost immediately upon setting out for the return trip, my left foot hurt.  I tried retying my boot a few times, but nothing seemed to help.  So, I figured that the faster I walked, the sooner I’d be done and I hauled butt back down the trail. The sun dropped behind the mountains and while sun rays were still visible in the distance, we were in shadow.  It gave things the feeling of an ending: the end of the day, the end of the hike, the end of this post.

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Whether you’re a bit of a geek or just looking for something to do around the Socorro, NM area, the VLA is a great place to go check out.  Even if you’re not in the area and never plan to be, you’ll pick up some interesting information from this post.  Having lived in Socorro, which is an hour east of the VLA, for several years I always took the VLA a bit for granted.  While I’d driven past the VLA a few times, I never checked out the visitor center or took the tour for the longest time.  Since the VLA is run by the NRAO which has a main building on the New Mexico Tech campus in Socorro where I got my bachelors degree, I’ve even known a few people who worked there.  After almost a decade living in Socorro, I finally buckled Hoppy and friends in the car and went to take the guided tour of the VLA.  It was well worth taking the time to go see it.

The Karl G Jansky Very Large Array or VLA for short is a radio telescope about 50 miles west of Socorro.  It’s run by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.  If you’re wondering What is Radio astronomy?  don’t feel bad, I never knew before finding out about the VLA either. Radio astronomy involves collecting radio waves from outer space to learn more about objects out there.  The VLA is composed of 28 antennas, which look more like giant satellite dishes than like anything most of us would think of as a telescope.  The antennas are truly massive with each one weighing in at 230 tons, standing 90 feet tall, and having a diameter of 82 feet. They can look small out on the open plain since there isn’t much to put them in perspective.  (The picture I have below of the shop they have for maintenance has a pickup truck in it that will help you get an idea of the size of the antennas.)

The antennas can be moved on railroad tracks that are in a Y-shape and run out 13 miles from the center of the array.  They use the array to study things like black holes, star birth, star life and death, pulsars, quasars and lots of other cool-sounding things.  Another interesting NRAO link is their  ask an astronomer page.  You can ask questions here and they will pass it on to one of their experts in that area to answer.

There were a couple of interesting things that I learned while there that particularly stuck out to me.  The WIDAR correlator is the super computer that compiles all the data from the antennas.  When they installed it in 2011 it was the fastest super computer in the world.  (As of my visit out there in March of 2016, it was down to being the fifth fastest, but that’s still pretty impressive.)  I was just sad that it is in a restricted area and I couldn’t see it.  The other thing I thought was really cool is that they have an atomic clock that can be viewed during the guided tour.  They use it so they can precisely record when the data from the antennas is collected.

Another fun stop was the whisper dishes.  The whisper dishes are setup outside the visitors center and are a stop on the self-guided tour.  They are small dishes that demonstrate the principle of how the larger antennas work to focus the radio waves.  The whisper dishes work with sound waves rather than radio waves so you can whisper from far away and another person standing with an ear in the center of the dish will be able to hear.  The curved shape of the dishes basically bounces the sound (or radio) waves to focus them at a point in the center of the dishes.

With one degree in science and another in math, I’m a bit of a geek and I found the tour to be really fascinating.  Also, thinking about the sheer size of our galaxy and the time frames astronomers deal with puts my own little life into perspective.  All those problems in my life that can seem so huge are practically non-existent compared to the size of the universe.

With a sci-fi feel, the VLA is a great place for photos.  It’s also been used as a filming location for movies and commercials.   Here’s a few pictures from my latest trip out there:

What you need to know if you want to visit the VLA

What to see

Guided tours.  Guided tours are available on the first Saturday of every month at 11, 1 and 3.  You’ll want to show up a few minutes early to pay for admission.  The self-guided tour and visitor center are great, but if you can make it, I recommend going to one of the guided tours.  They have people there that can answer any questions that you may have.
Self-guided tours.  Self-guided walking tours are always available.  They provide maps with information about each stop on the walking tour.
Gift shop.  There is a gift shop at the visitor’s center with lots of cool stuff.
Visitors center.  The visitors center features exhibits and a 20 minute movie about the VLA.  (You can also watch the movie on the NRAO website.)

What to bring

The tours do involve walking around outside.  Also, it should be noted that the VLA is pretty much in the middle of nowhere (this is done to minimize the interference of man-made radio signals and also because they needed a large area to build the VLA.)  So if you’re going to visit, I recommend bringing the following:

• a hat
• sunscreen
• good walking shoes
• snacks or a picnic
• camera

What not to bring

No weapons or guns allowed.

When to go

The site is open 8am to sunset.  The visitors center is open 9-4 daily.  Guided tours are available on the first Saturday of every month at 11, 1 and 3.

Additional Information

You’ll want to check out the VLA’s website and their page on guided tours.

Thanks to the VLA staff for a great tour and to the nice ladies in the gift shop for letting me take a picture of Hoppy with VLA bear.

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