WHITE SANDS, NM

I visited White Sands National Monument this morning and took a few photos that appear below.  After stopping at the Vis. Center I did the auto tour from which most of the pictures were taken.  The first stop on the tour was a boardwalk out over the sands.  The photos you normally see showing wavy white sand dunes with no vegetation at all must be at another point than the average visitor gets to see.  I think in fact those dunes may be on govt. property.

There is vegetation on the sands I saw.  I did climb up one hill that was just white sand, and I took a couple of photos of my car way down the hill.  Pictures are two dimensional so you can't get the feeling of how high I climbed.  I thought it would be worse going back down, but neither direction was difficult except for getting sand in my shoes.  A lot of folks buy the saucer shaped toboggan and slide down the slopes - again, I took a couple of photos from the car as I drove by.  If I had been with someone I might have been convinced to try it.

The next shots are from the auto tour (click on photos to enlarge, by the way).

Here's the dune I climbed:

Looking at the world from the top of the dune.  You can see my car down on the road.

And here are some folks having fun in the sand.

I enjoyed visiting White Sands  Nat'l. Mon. much more than I thought I would.   I normally don't like desert at all, but this one is intriguing because of the beautiful white gypsum sand and the dune formations.  Also the fact that there was no cacti in sight!

It is so hot right now I'm worried about the things in my car that could melt.  And to think it is about 78 degrees in NY where I was staying!  Cool and green.

I didn't think I'd get internet this evening as it just wouldn't work for me.  I walked over to the office, and the man at the desk said he would re-boot the service to the motel rooms and see if it would work.  It did and I'm happy to get this post and photos done.

I have no idea which way I'm going to go tomorrow - well, I have a general idea but everything is subject to change.  I'd love to be heading straight home now, but knowing that when I arrive the temps will be 100 or over doesn't give me any reason to be too eager.  I just want to get out of the damn car, unload it, and not drive anywhere except to the farmer's market, Costco, and the gym for a couple of weeks!