White Sands National Monument

There are places where you really feel like you're on another planet. White Sands is definitely one of them. After breakfast at Our Country Kitchen, which is in a converted house in a neighborhood, we drove the 20 minutes to White Sands today. With a landscape that reminds you of the moon and a temperature that brings Venus to mind, otherworldly is the best way to describe this place. We did luck out with the weather as it was "only" 94 and there were clouds passing by that blocked out the sun. What is interesting is the sand was really not that hot, I guess the fact that it's white results in it reflecting the heat rather than absorbing it. The sand is comprised of Gypsum from the mountains that surround this area, which gives it the white color and also results in it being more fine than what you would typically find on a beach. We drove to one of the picnic areas which look a little like something from a sci-fi movie with the shelters and how they are surrounded by the white sand dunes on every side. Unbelievably, some people were actually having picnics in these picnic areas. All we wanted to do was go play in the sand a bit and then get back into our A/C. We rented a saucer and tried sledding down the dunes. While this was neat to do, as a sledding experience, it reminded me of trying to sled in melting snow. You don't move real quick, unless you're a little kid. But it was fun. Overall the place kind of seemed like it was covered in snow, but it was sand, and really hot out. They even plow the sand off the roads, and that looks like snow plowed to the side. We then drove down to Las Cruces where the front desk clerk recommended we eat at La Posta de Mesilla, which is a really cool (and big) restaurant. The food was good and we ate too much of it. Also, we had the rarest of experiences, the wife had two drinks and I had one. Although I'm pretty sure my margarita consisted of Tequila mixed with another Tequila with a splash of Triple Sec. So now we're back in the hotel room, holding our bellies and getting ready to call it a night. Gila Cliff Dwellings tomorrow!