OK. So this is not a National Monument, maybe someday it will be! Even came here by car for a special open house. Someday these other weird adventures will be placed on another portion of the page. Until I learn how to do that they can rest here.

Winds were supposed to be more tame today. They weren't. Still gusting to 30 mph. We stood and watched (hidden from the wind by a building) as another tour group stood under an antenna and froze. Standing and pointing from our shielded vantage was good enough for our guide and most of our group. I had on fleece and a Gore-Tex jacket with hood - and was still uncomfortable. When we arrived the temperature was 41 degrees, when we left 2 hours later it had risen to a searing 44 degrees.

We finally went inside the main building and during the middle of a lecture the power went off. The switch to standby power was immediate but the rest of our tour was done using the emergency lighting.

Our last stop in the main building was the control room. In semi-darkness we were told how this place works. A scientist writes a proposal and sends it to the NSF (National Science Foundation) and it is judged for worthiness to be performed at the VLA. If approved, the antennas are positioned at the proper coordinates in the sky when the defined subject can be analyzed. Tapes are made of the observation and sent to the scientist where he uses analyzes the findings. No actual results can be viewed at the VLA, they just gather data.

The antennas gather radio waves, which are part of the light spectrum but not visible to us. One astronomer pointed out that stars that can be seen visibly almost never have significant radio wave emissions.

The wide spacing of antennas gives more sensitivity. This small configuration we see in these pictures is the "D" configuration. The largest configuration or the "A" configuration (with the antenna's spaced on railroad tracks in a "Y" configuration) is about 13 miles in diameter. Only a scientist would go make "D" the smallest and "A" the biggest".

The tour was fascinating with the addition of the guided open house. Listening to scientists talk about their passion was over the heads of most of the crowd. Just seeing this place that has always been on TV, movies and the latest Bon Jovi video really great (quiet now geek-boy).

Thought about going to Trinity Site (the sight of the first atomic bomb explosion) yesterday but after my experience with wind last Thursday, 50 mph gusts were not going to be on my plate for the day. Trinity is opened generally for 1 day at the first of spring and fall on a date picked by the military. It's about a 300 mile round trip located in the White Sands Missile Range. Maybe in the fall.....