New Mexico – White Sands

We drove into New Mexico and stopped at the visitor centre and saw some roadrunners. I tried to take photos but they do run fast.

We drove into Las Cruces and ate lunch. Ghis had fresh pecans in his salad which made us realize that the orchards we’d passed coming into town must have been pecans.

Then we drove towards White Sands National Monument. As we drove through a huge valley, we understood why the area was chosen to test missiles.

Then we passed through a border patrol check station. He asked if we were all Americans. We said Canadians which was fine with him.

We arrived at the park’s visitor centre and watched a short video. Then, with only two hours before the gates closed, we set out on the eight mile drive through the dunes.

I couldn’t wait to get out and take a million pictures, but we drove all the way to the end. Some parts had desert plants while other parts were only sand.

We parked and started walking up and down, over the dunes. Carmanah surprised us by running. She ran like we haven’t seen her run in years! Later on while we were stopped, she ate mouthfuls of sand as if convinced it was snow. You’d think she’d have stopped after one mouthful, but no.

It did look like snow and even driving along the road felt like driving in the snow. The difference was that it wasn’t slippery at all.

Morgane slid on her jacket down the steep dunes and then would run, screaming, back up to do it again.

I felt like we were there for ages, but as the sun dipped behind the mountains and we arrived back at the van, I realized we had only been there for one hour. One great hour.