After our impromptu extended stay in Texas we hit the pavement bright and early towards Las Cruces, New Mexico. A 543 Mile trip. It was a double length trip since we opted to stay 2 days in a place we hadn’t planned. Consider the long drive a “penalty” for fun and spontaneous behavior. Thank you Fredericksburg, Tx!
Our plan was to stop over in New Mexico for the night and head out to a boondocking location in Arizona.
Knowing we had a long 7-8 hour driving day on tap, we got homeschooling done as early as possible; and bribed the girls with movies of their choice. So they worked diligently on their work, and flew through it as expected.
We finally found a solution to keep the sun glare off of Shayla’s dvd player screen.
Around every long straightaway there appeared countless numbers of unforgettable mountain ranges. If we were to stop and photograph them all, I feel like we would never get to our destination, so we opted to just capture the “driveby” photo. After a long, but uneventful trip we made it our destination.
So after stuffing our bellies with a hearty breakfast we were on our way to White Sands National Monument. We arrived just before 10am and there were few people there at the this time. 
As we turn the corner and enter the through the Ranger station gate, we come upon these hills of gorgeous white sand. Out of the middle of nowhere there is this oasis of snow white sand.
Being from New England, I have to admit this place just looks like it could be covered in Nor Easter snow, but knowing that it is confectioner’s sugar powder sand; makes this place really impressive.
Since there really wasn’t anyone else there, we were able to park and move our truck all around at will. As long as we stayed on the packed sand roads.
I kind of felt a little bad for Cole with all this sand. He didn’t really know the difference between this and snow; and often tried to bite the sand, or chase mini sand balls as he would normally do with snow. He had a mouth full of sand, and it took bowls of water to get it all out of his mouth.
This place truly is a phenomenon of nature. Everywhere but here the ground is brown, grey and black. So strange.
Sledding down the hill is a popular pastime of visitors of this magical place. But since we only really had an hour to spend here, we made the best of it without a sled.
No adventure would be complete without a nice interval timer family portrait.
If you wish to download this image you can do so by clicking here and saving it.
All in all, white sands was pretty beautiful. Had we known more about it, we would have allocated more time to spend there and possibly even earn a Jr Ranger’s Badge from there. Putting this in the must see again category.
So a quick hookup of the trailer and we said goodbye to Coachlight RV . Next stop, the middle of nowhere in AZ. (Actually just southwest of Phoenix)
