Las Cruces KOA, Las Cruces, NM - March 2015

We arrived at the Las Cruces KOA RV Park on March 1, 2015 for five days. We are on our way to Tucson, AZ and this seemed like a great place to park the RV.  Due to our detour to Red Bay, AL we had missed seeing White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo, NM.

The KOA overlooked the City of Las Cruces. We walked through the park and stopped at the playground where Sharon challenged Mike to the chin up bar. Guess who won! And the teeter totter and swing brought back child hood memories!

 

 

And one of our RV neighbors had a drone that he flew over the park. Somewhat an invasion of privacy, but it is an amazing invention!

In the “good ol’ days” Las Cruces’ Main Street was the perfect place to take a leisurely evening stroll or to gather and socialize with neighbors. Today, Main Street is characterized by its eclectic mix of unique specialty shops, outstanding restaurants, art galleries, theaters and other cultural venues. This quaint nationally recognized New Mexico Main Street Community is home to the Las Cruces Museum of Art, Branigan Cultural Center, Rio Grande Theatre and Museum of Nature & Science, as well as popular events that include the annual SalsaFest, monthly Downtown Ramble “gallery hop” and twice-weekly Las Cruces Farmers & Crafts Market.  We did not have time to enjoy the Las Cruces Main Street, so we will have to return another time!

White Sands National Monument

The main reason for coming to this area was to see White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo, NM. On the way we passed the White Sands Missile Range that performs missile tests that may close the Highway we were travelling on. But we were lucky that no tests were being done on the day we decided to visit. Other area landmarks included the Sacramento Mountains, San Andres Mountains, Sierra Blanca, White Water Tower and Tres Hermanos.

Missile Range 

At the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert lies a mountain-ringed valley, the Tularosa Basin. Rising from the heart of this basin is one of the world’s great natural wonders – the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert here and created the largest gypsum dune field in the world.  

 

Gypsum is a soft mineral – softer than a human fingernail – so it breaks down easily. Water seeps into cracks, freezes, and breaks fragile sheets of selenite apart. The process continues over time until large crystals become small shards. When pieces become small enough that they can be picked up by the wind they are known as “cornflakes,” and this is when things really speed up. Grains of gypsum picked up by the wind bounce along the surface and leap-frog over each other, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. As the soft grains collide with the ground and with one another their surfaces get scuffed. These scuffs reflect light rather than letting it pass through and give the gypsum sand its distinctive snowy appearance.

We stopped at what we thought were pull-outs along the Dune Drive to take photos. The lighting was perfect as it was getting near dusk. After several stops a park volunteer stopped and told us we could not stop along the road, we had to stop at designated stops. Thank goodness we stopped, as these photos were the best shots ever! 

The dunes, brilliant and white, are ever changing. They grow, crest, then slump but always advance. Slowly but relentlessly the sand, driven by strong southwest winds, covers everything in its path. Within the extremely harsh environment of the dune field, even plants and animals adapted to desert conditions struggle to survive. Only a few species of plants grow rapidly enough to survive burial by the moving dunes, but several types of small animals have evolved white colorations to camouflage them in the gypsum sand.

Overlooking the snow-capped mountains in the background

We later took a sunset tour with the same woman who stopped us earlier! The tour was fabulous and the sunset over the dunes was awesome!

The sand reminded us of the sugary sand on Siesta Key beach back home in Sarasota, FL. But it was the formations and ripples and stark beauty of the dunes that inspired us. It was a very memorable experience. The sunset sequence was spectacular!

Town of Mesilla

We heard of Historic Old Mesilla, a small town not far from Las Cruces, so we drove down and walked around the town square on a rainy day. Sharon found two pairs of earrings she couldn’t live without at one of the boutique shops. Tres Manos Weaving of New Mexico sold beautiful hand-woven scarves, shawls and jackets out of an old historic building. Sharon admired the creativity and artisan skills and the vibrant colors of each piece.

 

We heard that the best authentic Mexican food could be found at Andele! Restaurante so we ate lunch on our way out of town. It was truly the best Mexican food we had ever tasted! It was so good, Sharon forgot to take a photo!

Watch for our next blog on Tucson, Arizona where we spent March and part of April. We also stored the RV and Jeep and flew home to Sarasota for two weeks!

Mike & Sharon

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)