White Sands

This morning we drove through to White Sands National Monument. It is miles....and miles....and miles of snow white sand dunes in the middle of deserts and mountain ranges. I'll hold off on my understanding of the natural process that went into how, when, what etc caused them-it made the "National Monument" list, and I'm sure the National Parks can do a better job than myself with all the details, so I'll just give my version of the day's adventure. There is an 8 mile road (16 when you circle back) through the dunes, it starts with the sand dunes and all the plants that have adapted to live there, with a few nature walks and board walks that include a LOT of lizards leaping across your path. Another neat feature are all the tracks the animals leave in the sand that you see while you walk. When you drive a little further into the interior the plant life ceases and it's just piles and piles of humongous, pure white, dunes. It's always changing, always moving, and so the park is really gracious about letting anyone and everyone play IN the dunes, which is so much fun. Sure enough (thanks for the advice Maurine), the sand is actually cool to the touch, and you can walk over, through, and around the dunes, OR-if you are young-or young at heart, you can take lids, and boards (gernally used for sledding in snow) and slide down them. The park even sold these trashcan lid looking things you could use-though I didn't have the time-I definitely filed the idea back into my brain. It was a unique adventure worth the stop.

A Different Sort of Art Exhibit...

I had read about Petroglyphs National Monument in a book recently, but I have never actually heard anyone talk about it-so I need to put it on the map. For any of you traveling up I-40-it’s worth the stop. There is an area of town overlooking the city of Albuquerque that is home to over 1,500 petroglyphs-some of which are more than 1,000 years old-now that’s pretty impressive-I don’t know too many artist who can make that claim. It was really neat to walk around the area and see the rock carvings-I have no doubt I missed more than I actually saw-but it was a really fun experience….and like most art work-I still am not totally sure on the meaning behind some of the pictures.

On the Road Again....

11 hours after the car engine started, my Mom and I made it as far as Albuquerque, New Mexico. The drive was really beautiful and peaceful, and though I always get really homesick by the end of a vacation, I realized-I do well with a vacation from day to day life. When I’m ‘trapped’ in a car-I can’t start (or finish) any projects, I can’t find misc things that need organizing, cleaning, or rearranging. I have to actually stop, and when I stop, I actually get to think in depth. We spent the first evening in Albuquerque relearning a few of the sites, and mapping out a shopping plan of attack for Sunday. Sunday morning we headed to Old Town. We walked around, and enjoyed the square, and the shops. We grabbed a bite to eat at The Church Café, and then headed on towards Williams, AZ….but before I move on to that journey-I have to say I love Albuquerque-it’s such a cute little town along the old Route 66, and everything is really affordable and beautifully decorated.

Santa Fe

After all I saw, it's amazing to think I can sum of the places so quickly, but I figured I didn't need to blog about ALL the sites, just the main ones, though I did skim over some very interesting little quirks along the road. I'm now on the last stop before home-Santa Fe. We arrived in Santa Fe to some really horrendous rain. Once we got checked in, we headed down to a place I read about previously called Cowgirl BBQ and Hall of Fame. The atmosphere was fun, and the food was great. We drove around a bit, but most of the shops were closed for the day, so we made an early night of it and went back out to the Plaza that runs along the old Santa Fe Trail the next morning. We spent a lot of the morning shopping and site seeing, and I found a lot of little goodies in the little stores lining the Plaza. Santa Fe is a really cute place (it's the capital city for anyone studying up....) the houses are built of adobe, and there is a lot of scenic locations to investigate. In the pm we drove around some of the other sites, and then the next day we headed on home. Now I have 1100 plus pictures to sort through after driving 4,210.9 miles and I'm looking forward to organizing and scrapbooking all the adventures.....and collecting a few more stories and pictures before the summer is complete.