Trip to White Sands National Monument

We drove down to White Sands National Monument with Adam and Melissa on Sunday.  We wanted to catch the sunset and then sunrise the next day.  We left about mid-day after a late breakfast at Frontier Restaurant.

We took a scenic route through Socorro, San Antonio (NM), Corrizzo and past Alamogordo NM to Holloman AFB.  We got rooms at the Holloman Inn on base which were quite satisfactory.  Then we grabbed some dinner at Chili's and drove out to White Sands.

We had an hour before sunset was scheduled at 8:07 PM so we got a map of the 8 mile loop in the park and drove out to an area where we parked.

We drove past the Amphitheater and Alkali Flat Trail and basically picked a parking spot and climbed the dunes.  We took our time and walked along the top of them and looked for a good vantage point to see the sun set over mountains.  We ended up walking about 1/2 mile up the dunes and across others to a good place.

Then we took a seat and watched the sun creep down over the mountains.  Some to the dunes were 20 and 30 feet a whole picture of beauty by themselves.

The next morning we were hoping to catch the sunrise but the area did not open up until 7:00 AM which was long after sunrise.  Instead, we took our time checking out of our rooms, then took a windshield tour of Holloman AFB.

The desert setting reminded me a lot of Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson.  Except here, all the aircraft were kept under wraps and there were none on the runway.  We went over to the airplane 'park' display area and saw some of the aircraft that have been in service at the base.

Then we made our way out to White Sands again and stopped in a few places to take a look.

One shot I wanted to get was a Yucca plant against the white dunes.  We drove around and took some shots.  I liked this one best.

It was a spectacular evening watching the sun set over the dunes.  Then it was another terrific day walking around in the bright morning sun.  It was hot too, so it was a good idea to take an umbrella.

Next we went back to the Visitor Center and watched the video on the history of the geological phenomenon at White Sands.

We were really glad to be able see the beautiful place with Adam and Melissa.  It was a scenic and magical place.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!