The White Sands NM revisited

The last few days we have been traveling the southern part of New Mexico, enjoying the warm weather and warm people. As our time grows shorter in NM we have really enjoyed visiting many of the State Parks, a wonderful experience which I would recommend to anyone. Elephant Butte Lake, Leasburg Dam where the most recent including many great hikes and a day trip to Truth or Consequences (the strange structure in the 6th picture is of a hot spring on the center of town). Both parks site on the Rio Grande.

Yesterday our day trip included Las Cruces and the White Sands National Monument. This is my second time in the White Sands, but I remember little from the trip I made as a little girl with my mother and brothers. The drive into Las Cruces was a back road that took us through the long rows of Pecan groves, loaded with ripe pecans waiting to be shaken from their branches.

Those aren't snow drifts!
The picture does not do justice to the expansive white dunes of gypsum in the Tularosa basin between the San Andres and Sacramento mountains. I hope to do another picture of these white dunes to complement the large painting in our living room that I did in college.

Tonight we are relaxing after a strenuous day hunting the steep slopes above Rockhound State Park for geodes and minerals. Not much luck with the geodes but we found some nice rocks to take home and met a nice couple just few site away from ours that gave us good advice on what to look for and where to hunt for the unique rocks. The view from the top was spectacular and at night the basin floor twinkles with the lights from homes and small towns in the area.