Sunday morning meant driving to Roswell. The Roswell International UFO Museum was only 80 miles away, so the drive was fairly quick and the terrain was fairly flat. Steve was concerned about parking his big rig, but we were able to park along the street very close to the Museum.
We met Kathi, Barb and Oliver (their pup) at the museum, and all six (yes, dogs were welcome) went into the museum to learn more about what happened at Roswell in 1947. And about other UFO incidents during the cold war era and since.
The museum was next to a nice park for relaxing with the dogs.
We grabbed lunch at El Toro, a bar next to the museum. The food was fair to good, but the wait time was over 20 minutes! We had ordered the food ‘to go’ because we had the dogs.
So we were waiting outside the restaurant for over 20 minutes for the food. We ate in the RV, with Oliver by himself in Kathi and Barb’s car.
After lunch, we all got into our separate vehicles and headed west. Steve drove the RV slowly across the Sacramento Mountains. The road was fairly straight and the hills weren’t as steep as the hills in West Virginia. But the mountains were very picturesque, starting with scrub on the east side and developing into forests on the western side. V: We were already at a high plains altitude at Carlsbad of 3100 ft. Apache Summit north of Alamogordo was at 7,591 ft – we were in the Sierra Blanca mountains but elevation changes weren’t as steep and radical as WV and VA roads.
We got the RV to our park (Alamogordo/White Sands KOA) and we were led to our site.
The pads were very narrow and the sites themselves were very close to each other. Besides being packed in tightly the park has been quiet (and relatively empty). The emptiness is probably due to the sewer lines being repaired. But our site has all utilities working. V: last morning here was so loud with construction noise, both in the park and at businesses nearby. It was worthwhile staying here as shopping, restaurants and White Sands National Park was so close and where else could you go to Pistachioland!
Barb, Steve, Kathi and Vicki decided to have Italian food that night. Which was convenient for Kathi and Barb, it was right next to their hotel, 150 ft away. We all enjoyed our food at Joe’s Italian Restaurant, and everyone but Steve brought home leftovers.
Monday morning the four (six?) of us met at the White Sands National Park Visitor’s Center. Vicki and Kathi walked through the exhibits and enjoyed the film. Steve picked up a plastic sled…
We all piled into Kathi and Barb’s car, Oliver sat at Kathi’s feet (or in her lap) in the front seat while Lexie had the back of the vehicle to herself. From the visitor center we drove down into the park
We hiked at the nature trail, which was a one-mile loop in the sand dunes that described the different wildlife in the sand dunes. The air temperature was 80F, but surprisingly the sand wasn’t much warmer. And the dunes ecosystem was very different than what we have seen before both in the desert and in the Great Lakes dunes. The sand was very white and firm, there was a variety of vegetation growing on the dunes, and the dunes themselves were moving (very slowly,but still moving). The road into the park through the dune section needed to be plowed to stay clear of the sand.
After the nature hike (which we all survived, even Lexie) we finished driving down the dune road until we found a spot to slide down the sand dune.
Sledding down the dunes is supposed to be a thing at White Sands. Steve took his sled to the top of the hill, got on it and went down. Slowly. Most of the way. Steve did not wax his sled, and that may have made a difference.
V: we were all planning to sled down the dunes as well. After Steven’s ride, we were thankful he went first and we passed. Listen to the sound on this clip. Driving through these VERY HIGH dunes, on plowed roads to clear all the white sand, was pretty amazing and almost felt surreal.
After this we all returned to the RV park to enjoy the leftovers from the previous evening’s dinner. Barb, Kathi and Oliver headed back to Albuquerque later in the afternoon.
Steve and Vicki headed to Pistachioland, where all things pistachio (and some pecan) can be found. We tried some wines enhanced with pistachio, pistachio fudge, seasoned pistachios, and pistachio ice cream. We bought some pistachio brittle and passed on the pistachio flavored coffee.
On the way back from Pistachioland we could see the Lady in the Mountains (in the Sacramento Mountains.)
After this, Steve took a hike into the Sacramento Mountains. AllTrails pointed out a trail nearby (Indian Wells Trail), and Steve headed to it.
The trail was great, but Steven took a little scenic route near the end. The trail started at the New Mexico Space History Museum, which was closed and had a gate that went across the road. Not wanting to have the car locked into the museum parking lot, Steve parked the car a quarter mile down the road.