What an incredible morning we had, waking up early around 6:30 (7:30AM central time) with excitement to experience White Sands National Monument. The motel allowed us to borrow 6 sleds and we spent over 4 hours having such a fun time on what has got to be one of the world's natural wonders. It was everything I had hoped and more when we stepped out of the car around 8:15AM, it was just around the freezing mark. We just randomly walked and it wasn't hard to find a gigantic pristine sand dune or ten, to play on. It was truly a magical place and we learned that the pristine white sand was gypsum crystals and is said to be the largest of its kind on Earth covering 275 sq miles. The sand is unique because it actually dissolves in water. We tried hard to understand how it came to appear in the middle of southwest New Mexico developing back before the dinosaurs were around when this area was covered by a shallow sea. The gypsum crystals deposited in that basin and were subject to freezing, thawing, and wind and broke down into tiny grains.
Family sledding!
11.5 year old time out...
After nearly 4.5 hours of playing in one of God's ultimate natural playgrounds, we loaded up and dined at Rizo's in Alamogordo and got on the road for our 3 hour and 40 minute drive north to Santa Fe where we dined on some pizza in the hotel, before settling into our Homewood Suites that we would call home for the next 4 nights and 5 days.
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