Making Swarm-Fest my vacation

[Nelson Minar]

I'm Julie, I'll be your cruise director. Someone asked about tourist
things while at Swarm fest. I'm a big believer in having fun on trips,
so I thought I'd share my reply to swarm-support.

>I was interested in spending a few extra days (either before or
>perhaps after Swarm-Fest) in and around Santa Fe. Take in some
>sites... a little skiing, perhaps? Is there anything to see (i.e.
>open to the public) at Los Alamos?

New Mexico is a great place to spend a few days - there's a standing
joke at SFI that part of the reason it has such interesting visitors
is that Santa Fe is so pleasant.

I don't know about touring the labs at Los Alamos but I doubt it would
be very interesting if you weren't visiting someone in particular - I
don't think they're big on visitors. Los Alamos does have a couple of
special tourist sights, though. There's the excellent but vaguely
creepy Bradbury Science Museum as well as a seldom-visited but
interesting history museum in Los Alamos that gives a feel of what
life was like there in the past (early lab years and before). I often
took visitors hiking up around Los Alamos and make a brief stop at the
Science Museum.

Santa Fe, of course, is quite the tourist destination. There are
several good museums, lots of interesting shops (once you dodge the
geegaws), etc. Frankly, I think the best part of Santa Fe is just
walking around town, enjoying the atmosphere. Winter is quite nice:
cold but usually sunny, lots of snow. You'll want layers and a good
coat. When you're there, remember you're at 7000 feet. It's very dry
(drink a lot of water), you get winded easily, and alcohol hits you faster.

Santa Fe has excellent restaurants - in addition to lots and lots of
New Mexican places you can also get fine Asian fusion, Northern
Italian, green chile cheeseburgers, etc. Personally, I can't wait to
get my chile rellenos at Dave's.

Plenty of skiing around although I don't know what snow conditions
are like right now. The closest hill is the Santa Fe ski area, about
30 minutes up the road from SFI. For me it's plenty challenging, but I
know some really excellent skiers who find it a bit boring. Beautiful
views up there. The Taos ski area is about two hours north of Santa Fe
and is quite challenging, Los Alamos has a small area, even Albuquerque
does (but it's not worth a trip).

The best thing about New Mexico is being outside. The desert is really
beautiful. Lots of hiking of all sorts - from a nice 20 minute stroll
in the foothills behind SFI to all day outings on the mesas below the
Jemez mountains (where Los Alamos is). It's easier to communicate what
hikes are worthwhile in person. Most people at SFI can make
suggestions. We used to have a collection of USGS topo maps for good
hiking areas in the library, it should still be there.

>(BTW, it might be kinda of crass to ask... I've always pictured SFI
>as a fairly informal place, on the other hand, I don't want to be the
>only one without a suit... What's the dress-code norm for a SFI
>workshop? ...can you tell this is my first business trip?)

Relaxed. Folks in suits at SFI tend to look a bit out of place. I'll
probably wear my usual jeans, turtleneck, flannel shirt. Chris will
undoubtedly look snazzy in his leather vest and bolo tie. Santa Fe in
general is casual: people dress nice, but not formal. I don't know any
restaurants that require a tie.