We did something you can only do two days per year! We visited the Trinity Site, the location of the world’s first nuclear detonation. Only open to the public two days per year, once in April and October, it’s free and relatively easy to do. We decided to join the caravan to the site, limited to the first 125 cars that show up, the caravan takes a route through the base that the general public doesn’t take. At the site there isn’t a whole lot to see, a marker showing the spot where it detonated and a small pile of rubble where a structure supporting the bomb had stood, another structure they’d considered using to encase the bomb but ended up not using, some informational signs and photographs. Much of the trinitite, glass that formed from the sand, has been removed and most of what remains is now hidden beneath a structure to protect it. You can take a shuttle to the ranch house where the core was assembled, but the line was very long and we decided not to go. As we left we encountered a group called the Downwinders, who shared information about the health effects residents in the region and their descendants have experienced, and I wished that their story were more a part of the day, instead of apart from. The effects of nuclear weapons have impacted millions globally, and Trinity is largely where it all started.
And then we went to Pistachioland 🤣🤷🏻♀️
