R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 159

The Flowers of Museo Larco, Lima

Museo Larco founded in 1926

Museo Larco is a logical stop when visiting Lima, Peru. This museum dedicated to pre-Columbian art (meaning before Christopher Columbus’ visit to the New World in 1492) was founded in 1926, and today Museo Larco contains artifacts spanning some 4,000 years of Peruvian indigenous history, and cultural displays going back another 6,000 years before even that.

Museo Larco flowers

But before you get to all that history you’ll pass through the gardens of Museo Larco, in...

Fun Photo Friday — Lima Favorites

Plaza San Martin panorama

Here is today’s slide show of Lima favorites:

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Fun Photo Friday, Golden Princess, Lima, Peru, photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, travel photography, vacation

Historic Center of Lima, Peru — Part 2

Plaza Mayor panorama

On Monday I presented to you some images of Plaza Mayor and Plaza San Martin in Lima, Peru. Today we’re going to enjoy a few more images of both plazas as well as another image or two nearby.

Plaza San Martin

Plaza San Martin derives its name from a historical figure we’ve discussed previously from this voyage — Argentine General José de San Martin. San José de San Martin was an instrumental figure in South America’s struggle for independence from Spain. There is even a s...

Historic Center of Lima, Peru — Part 1

Plaza San Martin

The Golden Princess departed San Martin shortly after our return from our excursion to Islas Ballestas. The next morning we arrived at the seaport of Callao, which serves Lima, the capital of Peru. The architecture here is stunning. Here you see some of the buildings surrounding Plaza San Martin:

Plaza San Martin

Plaza San Martin

Lima is also famous for its balconies, many of which date back to when Peru was a Viceroyalty of Spain. Here are some examples:

Example of Lima’s fa...

Trinitite from Trinity Site

Don’t steal the trinitite

Trinitite is the glassy substance that resulted from the atomic bomb test at Trinity Site, White Sands Missile Range, on July 16, 1945. It’s somewhat rare, hard to get hold of, and illegal to acquire directly from Trinity Site. If you want a legal piece, you must acquire it from someone who collected a sample before trinitite harvesting from Trinity Site became illegal way back in the 1950s.

Plaque explaining radiation levels at Trinity Site — Yes, it’s L-O-W

Triniti...

Trinity Site — the McDonald Ranch

The Schmidt-McDonald Ranch House

In 1913 German immigrant Franz Schmidt built a piece of military and scientific history, although he didn’t know it at the time. He built a ranch house. That ranch house, and the 640-acre ranch upon which it sat, were acquired in the 1930s by the McDonald family. In 1942 however the McDonalds were ordered out of their house and off their ranch as the land was “leased” from them and “temporarily” incorporated into the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, which...

Trinity Site Historical Photographs — Part 2

The news breaks — Manhattan Project revealed

Today I present more of the photo history affixed to the chain link fence surrounding Trinity Site.

Trinity Site Obelisk erected in 1965 — 20 years after the blast

The 1965 Open House and unveiling of the Obelisk

This next series of photographs reveal the Trinity test explosion and its aftermath:

Detonation + .006 seconds

Detonation + .025 seconds

Detonation + .053 seconds

Just one tenth of a second after detonation

Characteristic mushroom cloud fo...

Trinity Site Historical Photographs — Part 1

The Gadget — assembled and positioned atop the shot tower

Don’t just look at the Fat Man replica and the Ground Zero obelisk when you arrive at Trinity Site. Spend some time along the perimeter fence for a fascinating look at the history of the Manhattan Project, the men behind it, and the war against Japan in the Pacific Theater:

Army engineers who maintained power and water at Trinity

The Trinity Site Polo Team using police horses, broomsticks, and a volley ball

Jumbo

McDonald Ranch

100 ton...

Trinity Ground Zero and Fat Man

Ground Zero marker

You’ll know when you get to Ground Zero at Trinity Site. It’s marked by the twelve-foot tall lava rock obelisk you see above. The Gadget was hoisted atop a 100-foot/30-meter “shot tower” above this precise location for the July 16, 1945 test. The Gadget was a plutonium device that was the basis for the Fat Man device dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945. There’s even a replica of Fat Man onsite:

Mock-up of Fat Man — the device detonated over Nagasaki

Gadget’s pluton...

Trinity, Jumbo, and the Gadget

Still radioactive over seventy years later

Twice a year there’s an obscure area of scrubland at the north end of the White Sands Missile Range that is opened to the public. Access is tightly controlled. Vehicles are monitored. Guards are posted along the way to direct you. Photography en route to and from this remote site is prohibited. You are about to tour Ground Zero for the world’s first nuclear bomb, a.k.a., “The Gadget“. Welcome to Trinity Site:

Trinity Site

Trinity is open for public a...