I've always wondered what inspired person decided to name the VLA the "Very Large Array". I mean come on - what kind of adjective is 'Very Large'? Couldn't they have come up with something a bit more exciting? Like huge or gargantuan or at least extremely big or something.... *shrug* Perhaps 'of Unusual Size'? Hrmm... AOUS... naw - doesn't have the same ring as ROUS;) Anyway, it turns out we won't be able to go to Magdelina Ridge since it isn't open:( I was looking forward to the camping....

Anwyay, we had a nice logn 3 hours drive down to the VLA. We were waiting for someone from the Durfee Foundation to visit us at this McDonalds...but she never showed up... I guess she must've gotten lost somewhere....
So, after some various stops at a McDonalds for food, a photo shop to get some film developed, etc. we got to the VLA. Unfortuantely, it had started to get all cloudly and rain-looking-like. When we actually got to the array, all the three arms of satalites were pulled in and all pointed up... no neato formations to look at for us:( The power was out, too. Anyway, we got some hard hats on and then we got to climb around on the 28th antennae that they had in the repair/maintenance barn. We got to climb into the control room and look at the motors that run it and then we got to climb up on the actual dish:o) Oh - btw - the thing is huge!!!! Climbing on top of the dish part was rather weird - it didn't feel totally sturdy - if it was solid, the thing would be *really* heavy....

After both groups of us had explored the antennae, we went around to the building where the control room was and stuff:o) We got the "contact" tour and went around the back where the news crew had gone by and the random little swimming pool was in the movie=) Our tour guide pointed out where in the movie he could be seen, also:o) We then got to run up the stairs that Jodie did and into the room with all the tapes. We stopped there because something was going on in the control room and talked about how they actually got the signals and how people scheduled time on the VLA to use the information from the telescopes, etc. The control room is different from how it was in the movie - well, first of all the one they were in was reproduced on a Hollywood soundstage... and since the shooting of the movie, it had been remodeled:o)

We went to hang around in the visitor's center for a while - I bought some postcards and stuff... and read all the happy information and looked at all the pictures in the little walk-through tour they had on the wall.
Afterwards, I headed back into Galen's car...[Oh yeah - I was in Galen's car on the ride instead of in the van with everyone else...so I missed out on any cool adventures they had in the van;) Although I hear later that it was pretty quiet on the way back since it was late and people were tired...I'm sure there are some funny tales about the way up that I missed, tho:o) Of course, no one's told me anything, soo...I guess I'll just have to stay uniformed forever..ah wellz...] Anyway, we headed back to Sequorro for dinner. On the way back, Cathy and Kristen and Jim and Daryl and I all pitched into a game of..erm..well..I don't know what it's called besides maybe the Alphabet game;) Ya know - the one where you have to find signs or things or license plates starting with A, then B, C, D, and so on.... It started out as Kristen vs. Jim and then we just all started to pitch in various suggestions:o) I'm just glad that we pulled Jim and Daryl out of their chess games;) Um, a couple of us played cards an then we did a famous name game and at some point I think we tried 6 Degrees of Separation... and I think by the end we got caught up in riddles...which lasted through dinner... - you know, the ones where you are presented with a situation and then you ask yes or no questions and try and figure out what happened.

Anyway, dinenr was nice:o) We continued the riddles through dinner, and JW and Holly contributed a couple good ones, too:o) We had random conversation about dark matter and CCDs and other stuff....
On the ride home, Galen let Kristen drive and we all went to our separate things. Cathy was reading Harry Potter, Daryl was talking on his phone...of course Jim did something chess related;) I fell to drawing everybody else in the car several times...(it was a long ride;))
We stopped at a gas station for a restroom and Cathy and I had fun washign all the windows of Galen's Van as he filled up his gas tank:o) Activities continued...Jim and Daryl started another chess game...most of us took random naps...
Our van got back about 20 minutes before the other van, so I just went up to my room and wrote stuff, etc. I enjoye the van ride:o) The older kids are nice and fun to be around:o) Of course, I've always found it to be that way - I never hang out with the talkative group of peoples...I prefer the older kids who tend to be more quiet and such... Well...erm..all of em are older than me, technically - except Ellie and Andy:) Ack..stuck explaining in band bus terms... anyway, in the band bus, you get people in the back..usually couples having happy make-out sessions...then there's the rowdy center of the bus with the in-group of people who are really chatty...then up front you usually get your elite upperclassmen - Seniors and Juniors and such who are usually more quiet and contemplative:o) There are random bits of chatter - happy silliness or intellectual talk:o) It may also be the fact that the chaperones are always at the front of the bus and that's just the kind of kids you get up there:o) Galen's van was like the front of the bus and the other van is usually more of a middle of the bus-type group:o)
Well, anyway - it was a fun day! Even though we didn't get to go camping and it was rainy when we were at the VLA, I still had a lot of fun!:o)

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This page last updated November 14, 2000.