The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

Last week during the three-day weekend, dad wanted to take an overnight trip to Albuquerque to see his friend, Joe, and go to a museum.  I decided to go with him, but unfortunately, he chose Monday as the day to go.  This meant travelling back home on Tuesday and going to work in the evening for me which made for a very long day.  Dad is also, let us say, not a sound sleeper.  (Or perhaps, too much sound.)  I did not get a pleasant night's rest.  Also, he slept in that morning and got up "late" at 5:30am.  

It was a beautiful day for a trip.  We stopped at San Antonio (New Mexico) and had lunch at the famous Owl Café there.  Pulling into the Albuquerque, the first place we stopped was a convenience store for gas.  There was a homeless person pushing a full cart at the drive in and two police cars with their lights flashing.  Ah, the Welcome Wagon.  There was a large homeless encampment down the street from our hotel and homeless in general everywhere.  Albuquerque's poor reputation did not prepare me for reality.     

We met up with Joe.  Dad wanted to go to the Natural History Museum (he'd been before), but Joe suggested the Nuclear Museum. I was bit surprised by this.  I had a co-worker, who'd also suggested it when I told him about the trip.  Dad hadn't gone to the Nuclear Museum before, so there we went.   

First, the museum is a bit pricey.  There are discounts, like my dad was veteran, but I didn't get any except for being a New Mexico resident.  Joe had some kind of pass for all the museums.  I should have asked what that cost.  Second, I didn't take any pictures, but I grabbed some pics off their website.

This place is pretty big and detailed.  There are rotating exhibits, so you can go back and see new stuff.  There are several exhibits and demonstrations that are kid-oriented.  There's staff around that can give more detail on some of the exhibits.  You could really spend quite a bit of time here.  We were there for at least two hours and were there when it closed down.  That wasn't nearly enough time to really see everything.  Too many exhibits got skimmed over.

The Manhattan Project and the WWII atomic bombing flight exhibits are permanent and very interesting.  There are many relics on display.

Here's a pic from the Dark Cube exhibit.

Yes, there's DeLorean on display.

 

Okay, I admit I liked the Little Albert animated puppet display.  I was the only one there at the time.  Joe and dad were too cool to listen to the puppet.

Outside are a bunch of plane and rocket displays.  It was kind of cold.  It had snowed recently and melted, so the ground was a muddy slush.

B-29.

B-52.  Very impressive close up.

The sail from a nuclear sub.  Unfortunately, you can't go inside any of these displays.  Having been inside a B-17 once, I can tell you that nothing really brings these craft to life more than being inside one.  They should consider trying to figure out how to open these up.

Afterward, we went to a Mexican food restaurant in Old Town.  It was pretty good.  (I didn't have any of the Mexican food.  I had chicken strips.)  Then we were watching an NFL game at Joe's apartment.  We all got together for breakfast at Denny's in the morning before we left to return to Las Cruces.  (And that was the most expensive meal of the two days.)  It was also well below freezing when we left.  Thankfully, it warmed up a bit as we travelled south. 

Overall, I'd say it wasn't worth the sore lower back I got from travelling, but if you're in Albuquerque anyway with no other plans, the Nuclear Museum is well worth your time.  I only plan on going back to the Duke City for an Isotopes game someday and probably the Natural History Museum.  (Joe had given me an Isotopes t-shirt a couple of years ago.  I wore it for the trip.)