I dug through some old pictures and found these. The Very Large Array is a pretty surreal place. Jodie Foster’s movie Contact was filmed there. It is in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico (2 hours southwest of Albuquerque), surrounded by nothing but high desert.

There is a museum and some outdoor activities to learn about astronomy. Astronomer all over the world use these giant telescopes for their research. Make sure the telescopes are in a favorable configuration before you come. Some configurations have the telescopes too far stretched apart and you won’t be able photograph them nicely in a row like I did above. We went there twice, so the pictures above are from a different visit than below with the kiddos.  Gosh, they were so young. The boy in the blue shirt is my nephew. The last picture is my favorite.  Just in case you are wondering what Shane had for lunch that day…

If you make the trip bring lots of sunscreen and a hat. There is absolutely no shade. There is nothing to eat there and the nearest town is half an hour away.

Have a great day,

Sofija