Best things to see and do in Los Alamos, N.M.

The rugged, remote terrain that made Los Alamos Oppenheimer's pick for a secret government laboratory also makes for great hiking.

Built in 1923 for the Los Alamos Ranch School, the two-story Fuller Lodge once served as the social gathering place and meeting hall for employees of the Manhattan Project.

It still serves as a community center, and the art gallery features local artists and art shows.

A photo with the bronze statues of Robert Oppenheimer, head of the Manhattan Project's weapons laboratory, and Gen. Leslie Groves, director of the project, on the Fuller Lodge lawn is a Los Alamos must.

The Los Alamos History Museum is located in a historic guest cabin of the Los Alamos Ranch School.

The museum explains the area's volcanic natural history, the area's Native American past, and Los Alamos' early days as a boys' summer camp.

An exhibit at the Los Alamos History Museum.

Beginning at the history museum, the self-guided Los Alamos Historic Walking Tour visits Native American ruins, homesteading cabins from the early 1900s, and the homes of Manhattan Project lead scientists.

LANL engineer Ron Dolin and his wife, Olha, combine their love of science and spirits to create New Mexico's only distillery and winery in New Mexico, and one of the few in the country.

Their specialties include New Mexico-grown blue corn vodka and bourbon that is dangerously smooth.

Their bottles of Manhattan Project-labeled Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc – made with grapes grown in southern New Mexico – make the perfect Los Alamos souvenirs.

The Bradbury Science Museum was named for Norris Bradbury, director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1945 to 1970.

The interactive museum is divided into history, defense and research areas that offer insight into the lab's bomb-making origins to its exploring the universe with technology such as the Mars Rover, which the lab helped develop.

Hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, fly-fishing and many other outdoor activities are available to the public at Valle Caldera National Preserve.

Called the Yellowstone of the Southwest, this 89,000-acre mountain-rimmed valley 24 miles west of Los Alamos was an enormous volcano that exploded some 1.5 million years ago. Today lush meadows echo with the bugle calls of elk, and trout dart through spring-fed streams.