One of the most popular attractions at Eagle Ranch is our free farm tour. These tours offer our visitors an in-depth look at just how our delicious pistachios are grown and processed.

Eagle Ranch is a self contained agribusiness which means that we do everything to the crop, from start to finish, right here on premise. Tours take about forty-five minutes, and during that time, you'll visit the field, the processing plant, and packaging and shipping departments. It's a walking tour with wheelchair accessibility.

Located in south central New Mexico, Eagle Ranch is near the white gypsum sand dunes of White Sands National Monument, the International Space Hall of Fame, historic Lincoln County (Billy the Kid country), and just a few hours drive from the famous Carlsbad Caverns. We're easy to find.

Our employees manufacture and test some of the most sophisticated products the world has ever seen. They also take their talent and dedication beyond Intel's walls into the community, where they are actively involved in education and civic programs.

Intel coordinates employee volunteer programs and actively looks for opportunities to improve the quality of life. Whether our employees are mentoring students, coaching sports teams, or spearheading a food drive, they are living up to Intel's corporate value of being an asset to the community.

Although not technically a factory tour we have included this tour because it offer a unique experience to see the evolution of the future of space travel. The tour details are below.

The unveiling of the Spaceport America brand shines light on a visionary project many years in the making. New Mexico?s weather and wide-open spaces have been ideal for the aerospace industry since Robert Goddard, the Father of Modern Rocketry, began conducting research in Roswell in the 1930s. He was followed by Wernher von Braun in the 1940s, and NASA in the 1980s.

By the early 1990s, a group of like-minded individuals called, the Southwest Space Task Force, felt the impetus to take New Mexico?s space industry to the next level: commercial space and reusable launch vehicles. Based on years of study, they zeroed in on 27 square-miles of state-owned land, 45 miles north of Las Cruces as a location for an inland spaceport. When Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Rick Homans took office in 2003, they went to him and pleaded their case.

Homans then picked up the torch, presenting the idea of a New Mexico spaceport to Governor Richardson, negotiating with the X Prize Foundation to locate the X Prize Cup in New Mexico, spearheading legislation to finance the spaceport, and most recently, recruiting four aerospace mavericks ? including Virgin Galactic ? to New Mexico.

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) announced that they will begin offering paid public hardhat tours of the Spaceport America construction site beginning December 2009.

The tours will highlight New Mexico history spanning from Spanish conquistadors and pioneer rocket research to the new commercial space industry. Tour participants will receive an on-site tour of the construction site including the runway and vertical launch facility. Tour details and reservation forms will be available on the Spaceport America website (www.spaceportamerica.com) by mid- November.

Guests will tour the construction site and the 10,000-foot runway that is currently under construction, as well as current launch facilities.

Spaceport America is the world's first purpose-built commercial space facility. Spaceport America has been working closely with leading aerospace firms such as Virgin Galactic, Lockheed Martin, Moog-FTS, UP Aerospace, and Armadillo Aerospace to develop commercial spaceflight. Spaceport America's 10,000-foot long runway is now under construction and is expected to be complete by late summer 2010 with the Terminal Hangar Facility projected to be complete by early 2011.

The VLA is located 50 miles west of Socorro on U.S. Highway 60. From U.S. 60, turn South on NM 52, then West on the VLA access road, which is well marked. Signs will point you to the Visitor Center.

What You Will See
The Visitor Center is open every day from 8:30 a.m. to dusk. As you enter, a sign will point you toward the theater, a good place to begin your tour. The 9-minute video presentation was produced in 2002. It provides an understandable overview of radio astronomy, interferometry, and the VLA itself. You will then want to explore our exhibits, to learn more about radio astronomy and the role the Very Large Array and other NRAO telescopes play in current research. A 5-minute silent video will show you how we move antennas. Another video slide show describes the Very Long Baseline Array and how it works. A Small Radio Telescope located just outside the back window tracks the Sun and produces a crude image.

Near the back door you will find a brochure to guide you in the walking tour that will take you past our Whisper Gallery to the base of one of the 230-ton antennas. From there you will climb up to the observation deck for a view of the array itself, as well as a look at the new prototype antenna we are testing for the ALMA project. The walk returns you to the Visitor Center where you are welcome to browse through our gift shop to take home some souvenirs. The gift shop opens almost every day at 9:00 a.m. and closes at 4:00. If it is closed during your visit you may shop online.

We suggest you make a right-hand turn as you leave the parking lot and head for the tall building, following the AAB (Antenna Assembly Building) Tour signs. As you cross the railroad track there is a parking lot on your left. From there you can view our 28th antenna that is undergoing routine maintenance. You will also (most of the time!) get to see one of the transporters that is used to move the antennas.

You are welcome to take photographs of everything you see, but PLEASE KEEP YOUR CELL PHONE TURNED OFF! (It interferes with our observing)