As I thought back to the many times I’ve driven past this National Treasure, but never took the time to stop to see what was behind the entrance to ‘White Sands’, this time, I made the trek for the sole purpose of scratching off the ‘Bucket List’ designation. Several weeks ago, I had made my way south from Wyoming, into Colorado, and then into New Mexico, not to see ‘White Sands’, but re-trace my broadcasting roots to the beginning. I’ll have a separate post to describe how that little adventure went, but for now, just know, the effort didn’t turn out as planned.
I did find myself near Las Cruces, and made the snap decision to travel to Alamogordo, and then over the summit and descent into the valley where White Sands Missile Range took up a huge chunk of land, and where the big white sand box is located. It was a typical hot summer New Mexico Day as I pulled in to the Visitor Center to scope out a hat to purchase, something I try to do when possible. The center was packed though, and I simply opted to go through the gate for the driving tour, showed my Lifetime Senior’s Pass, and took the paved route into the drifting white granules, which made for some blinding shots. At one point, the road was getting obscured by the drifting white stuff.
It’s an amazing sight to behold, and my only regret is not visiting on a slightly cooler day. Plus, it would have been nice to be able to take time to walk out on the dunes and get some pictures from that perspective. I chose not to subject Squirty’s paws to the heat of the day. Or was it that Squirty didn’t want to have to drag my old body back to the car after exerting myself too much to get a good vantage point for pictures?
Yeah… that’s probably more accurate…
I’m glad we came… impressive place. Squirty wants to go back and run around….
