an awesomely austere new mexican adventure

Ps. 139:17-18 — "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee."

As the eldest identified in the sand, we "were here!" to be remembered as long as a grain of sand is stationary. This big adventure was the trip to White Sands. Again, there was an aspect of New Mexico here that had just previously eluded me. It was here that the atom bomb was built - Los Alamos. It is here the NRAO Very Large Array, Johnson Space Center, the infamous UFO sghting at Roswell. It is here White Sands - you often hear about missiles being tested. It is here where there is the Carlsbad Caverns, petroglyphs, cliff dwellings, a volcanic past, and the gypsum of White Sands. There was once more not nearly enough time to see all of this, but we did see the majesty of White Sands gypsum.

The plan was to go to Cloudcroft and see the Sunspot Scenic Byway and a view of the Tularosa basin at the National Solar and Apache Point observatories, Trestle vista overlooking the Mexican Canyon, and Tunnel Vista. On the way, you passed a very recent attraction - the Inn of the Mountain Gods casino.

As we proceeded, the GPS seemed to have a penchant for indian reservations and frequently took us upon dirt and little travelled byways through flashflood zones and the like. This was not the road test we had in mind for Rondo. So we didn't expect highway244 to come to end and have to back track, but we did find a lovely little church there.

As we stopped for food, we didn't expect to parallel the highway on another backroad, backtracking once again. While it frustrated me, the navigator, and expended much of our day, we finally made our way to our destination. We cast aside the Tularosa Winery and the Eagle Ranch, only to pass highway 82 which would have taken us directly to Cloudcroft. Those weren't to be part of our day.

But we arrived at White Sands National Monument about 4pm. We drove into a wonderland of whiteness, at first there was plant life, but the deeper we went in, the scarcer it was. We were told not to rely on our sense of the direction or the sun. Gratefully, the GPS was working with us here. There was a stark loveliness here, and austere beauty - a world within a world. They set up an educational area that highlighted the animal and plant life in the area. It demonstrated how they could maximize solar power. It identified the types of munitions from testing fallout that one should leave alone if encountered here. There was also a play area too. Sledding was ideal.




See the album to capture the frontal views!
It was indeed an unusual drive to arrive at this place; but well worth it. Handsdown, we were all in agreement. It did not detract that we sighted the destinations we had missed on the way back. As the skies darkened and we meandered our way back to our place on high, we knew we had had quite a wonderful day. The next day would be Thanksgiving and, well, we were quite thankful. What an awesome God we serve!