"Like No Place Else On Earth"

Can you guess: sand or snow? 

 

Ok, I guess those tumbleweed-looking plants give it away. It's sand! A few weeks ago, while our friend was visiting, we finally made the trek to see the famous white sands of New Mexico. 

What exactly are the white sands of New Mexico? Well, according to their brochure, “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 greatest 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. The dunes, brilliant and white, are ever changing.”

Yep, they got that right. As you can see below, it was a little windy there!

It was also breathtakingly beautiful. The sand was so white that it did really look like snow. And, like snow, the sand was cold to touch, even though the desert and blazing sun above were hot. 

We sledded, I made a sand angel, we buried ourselves in the cool sand; it was like the best of both worlds – beach and snow – and it would have been perfect except for the non-stop sand blowing in our faces. 

Climbing up that hill was exhausting! The sand is so soft...and the reward for your hard work walking up that hill? As soon as you crest the top of the hill, a huge gust of wind threatens to knock you over! 

We brought a few different sled options, but none of them worked very well alone. We borrowed some wax (to use on the bottom of sled) from a family sledding next to us. It helped. I would definitely suggest stopping at the gift shop on the way in and picking up some of the wax before heading into the dunes.

Still, it was a neat thing to experience and I would recommend you check it out if you’re ever in the area and definitely a must-see for our local friends. For more info, check it out here.