family heritage, book talks, and the atomic bomb

We just returned from visiting family in New Mexico! Our main reason was to celebrate my  Grandma's 85th birthday, but one thing we also got to do while we were there was attend a book talk. This wasn't just any book talk, but one close to the family.
My maternal grandfather photographed the creation of the atomic bomb in Los Alamos during World War II. I am proud to say that I am following in his path as a photographer :)
My Aunt Toni collected a lot of Grandpa's photos, and together with my Uncle Jon wrote an Arcadia book about Los Alamos during the war. This first Los Alamos book came out in 2005, just a week before my Grandpa passed away. His dream of publishing his photographs had been realized.
(Read about the history of Los Alamos told through photographs.)
Last year, my aunt and Los Alamos author Sharon Snyder (and the Los Alamos Historical Society) compiled a complete history of Los Alamos, also publishing the book through Arcadia. The book talk my family and I attended was for this second Los Alamos book. Authors Toni Michnovicz Gibson (my aunt) and Sharon Snyder talked about the book and the history of Los Alamos...

 And Mema, my grandmother, talked about what it was like to live in Los Alamos during the war and about meeting my grandpa.

I'm so glad that we were able to be part of it.

back from the road!

We just got back from a quick trip to New Mexico. Basically we were just there for the weekend, specifically for my Grandma's 85th birthday celebration.

The drive took just 11 hours each time, which was a record for us. It was nice to not be driving for so long! We were just in Albuquerque for two whole days, driving in on Friday and driving home on Monday. And I don't know how it happens, but just sitting in a car all day turns out to be exhausting. Maybe we'll get to bed early tonight.

Pictures will come soon!