White Sands

White Sands

We set off at about four a.m. that morning so that we could get there early. On the way we stopped outside the trinity site to watch the sun rise over the mountains; it was gorgeous. We also stopped at Carrizozo for a bathroom break. The little coffee shop we stopped at was like something out of the movies. It was so colorful and unique yet so small town at the same time. After stopping at the crazy coffee shop we left off again, the last stop before reaching White Sands was at the Heart of The Desert Pistachios store in Alamogordo.

We finally reached White Sands around 11 a.m. that morning. It was between seventy and seventy five degrees out, which doesn't seem that hot, until you take into account the fact that the sun reflects of the pure white sand, making it feel twenty degrees hotter. As well as the fact that you are climbing up big sand dunes, which even when it's cool outside makes you sweat.

We played for a few hours and then went back out to get some food for our picnic- lunch. We ate at one of the benches that are covered from the sun, but really look like they belong to the Martians on Mars. We then proceeded to find the biggest sand dune we could possibly find, which turned out to be twice as big as the one we usually play on. It took forever to climb up, since it was so hot outside, and carrying the sleds up the hill just made it worse. I figured out a way to make it easier; by braiding long pieces of of stalk from one of the plants out there, I made handles for everyone's sleds. So that they could drag them up the hill instead of carry them.

The last three times we have been there, I had been trying to master surfing down the hill on the sled. I was unsuccessful previous times, but this time I actually did it. The first time i did it, I actually screamed with joy. I made a way to brake, to go faster and a way to turn. It only works on the round sleds that we bought at the visiter center. But I don't see why making just a few modifications to other sleds wouldn't work.

Later that evening our close family friends arrived. we had planned on spending the whole weekend together. the first day at White Sands, the second at Carlsbad Caverns, and the third at Roswell. They got their later because their niece had arrived in Albuquerque where we all live, for the balloon fiesta. They were talked into taking her on a balloon ride, and then taking her out to lunch, so naturally they arrived later than we did. As soon as they arrived we went on a nature tour of White Sands. I would have enjoyed it more but I really didn't like the tour guide. After the tour, it was twilight, so we watched the sun go down over the mountains and then went back to the dunes we were previously playing on. I tried to teach them how to surf down the hill, but they both politely refused. We played for a few more hours in the dark, until the park closed. On the last time we went down, we could hear the coyotes howling. My dad and I thought it was pretty neat but my sister was scared, and my mom who grew up in the middle of no where Texas, didn't seem to care at all. (It just goes to show that we are city folk.) After leaving White Sands, we all reconvened at the hotel for dinner. After dinner we swam in the hotel swimming pool, and the next morning we left to go to Carlsbad Caverns.

I love going to White Sands. It's worth the long drive and the excruciating heat, just so we can sled down the hill to our heart's desire. The scenery is gorgeous, and as my brother once said, the dunes are so unrealistic they had to be from a cartoon. Obviously I knew they weren't from a cartoon, but I was still curious as to how they came to be. So the last time my family went, I learned where they really came from. My mother explained to us, (which later she proved by taking us on a nature tour), how the sand dunes were really made.

There was a fissure that was filled with lava like a volcano, but unlike a volcano the lava spilled out, instead of erupting. When the the lava spilled out, gasses came up and onto the earth and settled on the limestone that was above the fissure. Among the gasses was hydrochloride and sulfuric acid, which when it settled, dissolved the limestone and turned it into the gypsum crystal. As the weather wore the gypsum down, it turned into grains of sand that was carried away, and was turned into the white sand dunes. Every wet season the two lakes fill up and draw the gypsum that was covered out of the earth, again the wind will carry it up and add more sand to the dunes. (When the gasses settled, it settled wit the lava creating the mesas that we see today.)