Day 40 - (09/18) Alamogordo, NM

It rained last night and twice today (at 5pm and at 7:30pm). All showers lasted 30 min or less. We were able to tour the area before the rain started this afternoon.

White Sands National Monument
This is the largest gypsum dune field in the world. It covers 275 square miles of the Tularosa Basin and it continues to advance. The Dunes Drive goes 8 miles back into the dune field. It’s beautiful, awesome and fun.

The dunes seem to stretch forever

This is a picnic area in the midst of the dunes. Water remaining from last night’s rain made it look like an ice fishing village.

We went “sand sledding”. No gloves, scarves, coats or boots are required. Just put wax on the bottom of the sled, sit down, shove off, hang on and laugh. It was great fun.

Carol rides a big dune

Dick doesn’t dare try it with no-hands

This is not a winter scene, but they do plow to keep the road open.

IMAX Dome Theatre
We saw a NASA space exploration movie. It included amazing photography from space shuttle flights and from the Hubble telescope.

New Mexico Museum of Space History
Alamogordo was chosen to be the site of the International Space Hall of Fame. 28 countries furnished artifacts and exhibits of man’s conquest of space. The presentation was outstanding.

Dick flew a space shuttle simulator and had the best landing recorded for the day. FYI … he crashed on the first two tries.

Missile display outside the museum

End of the Day
This was a great day. It even ended with a beautiful sunset.

Sunset from the park

Did you know?
The White Sands dunes advance toward the northeast at 15 to 20 ft per year.