Seniors Pay A Visit To Los Alamos

Los Alamos, New Mexico, is built upon four mesas of the Pajarito Plateau and the adjoining White Rock Canyon. Senior travelers will find Los Alamos about one hour northwest of Santa Fe. The population runs just over 12,000.

I’ve seen hundreds of travel blog sites, but this may be a first. This site has a one hour, two hour and three hour itinerary all set for you upon your arrival with things you will not want to miss in and around the town.

Its claim to fame is undoubtedly the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where Robert Oppenheimer and other physicists created the world’s first atomic bomb during World War II. Many of Los Alamos’s residents work at the laboratory.

Seniors Enjoy The Historical Museum

The downtown area is compact, and the museums and most restaurants are within easy walking distance of the main hotels and many of the B&Bs.

Senior visitors will not want to miss the Los Alamos Historical Museum in the heart of downtown Los Alamos. The museum is a must-see for anyone interested in the ancient and recent history of the city.

The downtown area is loaded with history and interesting sites. Los Alamos is a natural wonderland for outdoors enthusiasts who wish to explore the mountainous terrain.

Seniors can hike through the Bandelier National Monument to see wildlife and ancient Puebloan ruins. The Monument is a 33,677-acre United States National Monument that focuses on preserving the homes and territory of the Ancestral Puebloans. Most of the pueblo structures date from 1150 to 1600 CE.

Seniors Take The Scenic Drives

The Los Alamos area offers year-round activities, including rock climbing, golfing, mountain biking, skiing and skating. There is a branch campus of the Univ. of New Mexico in town.

The Bradbury Science Museum has always been a popular stop and is located right in downtown Los Alamos. The Museum also provides a window to the Laboratory, interpreting the Laboratory’s history and current research.

 Since Los Alamos sits high up along the Jemez Mountains, senior visitors enjoy the variety of scenic drives and overlooks. One of the most popular is White Rock Overlook Park, with its sports grounds, picnic facilities, and dramatic views of steep canyon walls carved by the Rio Grande.

The Park also  serves as the venue for the highly popular annual Los Alamos Kite Festival held in May.

The Park is the trailhead for the Blue Dot Trail, a strenuous but short 800-foot descent into White Rock Canyon that covers 2.2 miles down and back up, so bring along some quality hiking boots. Los Alamos is home to Pajarito Ski Mountain, the awesome olympic-size Larry Walkup Aquatic Center, a high altitude golf course, a community skating rink and an urban trail system that connects to adjacent National Forest trails. Sound good? It is. jeb