Land of the Sun movie theater in Artesia:
In Artesia, we turned west onto US-82 and began an ascent through Lincoln National Forest, which changed as we climbed from desert with nothing but creosote bushes, to hills with junipers and other vegetation and a running creek and spotty snow, to tall pines - an actual forest! - and snow piles at the summit. Cloudcroft perched there and looked like a nice little town and ski area, but the two-lane road kept us moving through, and it was gone in a flash. Warnings about the climb to and descent from Cloudcroft were posted numerous times along the way, and emergency ramps were provided for runaway big rigs.
One of our purchases at Big Bend National Park had been a National Parks Pass for $80, one of the best values on the planet! It gained us entrance to the White Sands National Monument, with no additional fee. White Sands is a unique spot on the earth; it's a basin surrounded by mountains and has no river or other waterways to drain it. As a result, the gypsum that is washed out of the mountains by rain collects in the basin, forming long crystals which break down into the white gypsum sand. Sand dunes with no water in sight. It was amazing!
White Sands National Monument with snowcaps in the background:
Parked in the "play area" where people and their furry friends are allowed to walk on the dunes.
The boy and his mister:
White sand:
No comments:
Post a Comment