I took vacation recently. It probably wasn’t what most people would do for their vacation though it was very reminiscent of the types of vacations we took when I was growing up. I live in Florida, for my vacation I went to New Mexico and Oklahoma. Yes, really.
The New Mexico part of our trip found us based out of Albuquerque. Most of the barrels are gone from the freeways from when we lived there. The place has really grown. Though Old Town Albuquerque is much the same. People still selling their wares on the sidewalk. Shops with kitsch and t-shirts and some not. And a great restaurant. While in Old Town we met up with a guy from the San Domingo Pueblo and he gave my mother some help with information about her turquoise ring and as promised, after we looked at his jewelry, he pointed towards a really good glass of iced tea and a really good meal at the Church Street Cafe. Oh, and bonus, Flamenco Guitar music played live. I’m a Flamenco Guitar fan. This was truly a bonus.
The next day we decided to head down to White Sands. It’s only a 3 hour drive, if you don’t take the scenic route.
Man am I glad I upgraded the rental car to the luxury model. We took the scenic route to get there. And while I joke it really was cool. We dis see a lot of open land like this.
Lots and lots of it. It turns out that there are or were, depends on how you look at it, lava flows in New Mexico. You can be driving along and in the distance you start to see this dark patch that almost looks like a lake. It’s not. It’s solidified lava. Like along the road there. Or like this…
As you can see we had to get out an have a look.
After we took pictures and looked at what were likely snake holes and then started hearing disturbing rustling, we got back in the car and continued on our way. We made a wrong turn. Ok, I did. I didn’t believe the GPS or Dad’s directions, it just looked odd. We got to see a really nice looking church though. And then on we went. We stopped some place and got drinks and Mom had to get this peanut candy thing that turned out to be too sweet to be eat. And a local paper. She decided to read the police blotter outloud to us. Why not, we can use the entertainment. Seems there was a recurring theme. Maybe you can guess what it was. We went through Tularosa, where I made some really funny turn arounds and arounds and stopped so Mom could take a picture of a cool gate and then at a store so she could get pictures of the ristas out front. It was her desire for those pictures that prompted the funny turns. Inside she got a rista and Mexican Vanilla.Yum.
We finally made it to White Sands around 5pm. Since we got there so late we went through the welcome center and the gift shop first. Money was spent and I learned something cool. Seems that what makes the sands there white is gypsum. This is the stuff in wall board and plaster of paris. It also turns out that White Sands is the world’s largest gypsum deposit and 40% of it is protected by the White Sands National Park and the other 60% is protected by Uncle Sam because it is within the bounds of the White Sands Missile Range. It was a really cool sight to see. I was glad we got there as late in the day as we did. With the sun reflecting off the white sand it was still very hot and it was bright. Talk about eye strain. After we had been there a while, and probably because I was driving, my eyes were really fatigued. Yes, the sand really is white.
The trip back from White Sands had it’s own amusement. Dad drove, Mom rode in front with him. I tried to sleep. Not easy to do while he’s going 75 miles and hour trying to figure out the cruise control in the dark. And then there was the check point. We were so close to Mexico that they were stopping cars and checking for illegals. Mom started a count down with the clock and gps as to how long it was going to be to get back to the hotel. I slept finally.
To be continued…
Originally published at: suguayproductions.com/joomla which has been discontinued.
