A Bust in Santa Fe and #62!

 

We got up late the next morning, knowing that we had no real agenda to accomplish. The weather was cool in Eagle Nest and the early morning sun was melting the roof ice and dripping on our minivan.

Glowing aspens at sunrise

We went to breakfast and were engaged by the desk clerk who was totally blown away as we started to open up about our travels. After spending the better part of an hour highlighting some of our trips, we bid her farewell and finished packing the minivan.

A roadside fruit stand

From Eagle Nest, there are only two routes that lead to Santa Fe, and we chose what is called the High Taos Trail that wound its way through the mountains and was the more scenic drive. As we descended the mountains into the Santa Fe, Jane picked two landmarks that she wanted to visit.

¡No hay entrada!

The first was Nambé Falls which was a recreational area on the Nambé Indian reservation. We had a brochure that described this area, but we really didn’t have any detailed directions as to how to get there. The car’s GPS was a strike out, and Googling for travel directions just pointed us in the general direction.

Nambé rock formations

We stopped at a casino where Jane got directions and we figured that our problem had been solved and we would be enjoying a picnic lunch at a picture-perfect waterfall setting. We found the reservation and the road leading to the recreational area, a full 8 miles from the entrance. We crawled through the reservation’s painfully slow 25-35 mph speed limit zones, only to arrive at a locked gate (why can’t they put this notice at the beginning of this drive??) stating the area was closed due to COVID. So that was a wash and we got to do the speed zones in reverse!

 

Jane’s other attraction that she wanted to see was the little Loretto Chapel and its Miraculous Staircase. This we were able to pull up on the GPS, and in a short time we located it. Unfortunately, so had another 10,000 people!

Sunrise over the mountains

It was Columbus Day and the church grounds were jam packed. We started driving around looking for a parking space crisscrossing our path, taking two trips through the municipal parking lot, and expanding our radius for over an hour.

Loretto Chapel

We finally found an open space that we thought we might be able to walk to the church, but when Capt. Larry plugged our location into the GPS, we were over 6 miles away. At this point Jane decided to throw in the towel. This would have to be something we did at a later date with reservations in a hotel within a few blocks of the chapel. It was early afternoon, so we decided to find a motel for the night and head for our national park the next day.

 

When we are traveling, we seldom pay close attention to the local weather forecasts, because we are never certain of the broadcast area relative to our travel area.

We made it!

However, we probably should have had a better idea of the general weather conditions the next day. Leaving Santa Fe, we decided to skip the interstate and take less traveled back roads to the southern part of New Mexico where White Sands is located.

#62 in the book!

A strong wind was blowing as we left which increased to gale-force strength by the time we had driven halfway and stopped for gas. Road construction for several miles put us in a “straw out” from blowing straw that had been spread along the roadside to apparently hold seed or dirt in place. That wasn’t going to work with this wind! After the straw came the tumbleweeds which were a real rarity for us.

 

Arriving in Alamogordo around noon, we decided to visit the park and then drive to Las Cruces to spend the night.

The sand certainly is white!

The parks picnic areas were abandoned due to the high winds, so we had our picnic lunch in the van. We snapped some photos outside the visitor’s center, then went inside and put stamp #62 in the book. We were whole again!! The crusade would be paused! We watched a 20-minute video about the formation and ecology of the park, then perused the gift shop. We bought some postcards for the grandkids and stamped them with the park’s stamp. We also bought and stamped a park patch to send to the niece of our dear, deceased friend, Dr. Diane Pick, who was such an inspiration to us over the years in reaching our national park goal.

Driving through the park

Diane had been to White Sands as a national monument, and she was in our thoughts as we visited the park.

We left the visitor’s center to drive the 8-mile loop through the park that would pass by various trailheads, alkali flats, and picnic and camping areas. Unfortunately, the blowing wind and near blizzard-like conditions kept us from seeing much more than the road. Capt. Larry did attempt to take some pictures of some kids disc-sledding down a sand dune.

Kids sledding on the dunes

Rolling down a window to get a shot immediately put a fine layer of sand on the dashboard. So there wasn’t going to be a lot of picture taking! Wanting to see what the sand felt like, he got out of the van and grabbed a handful from a nearby pile. Being pelted with sand, he was back in the van in less than 20 seconds. The sand is not silicone, but gypsum (calcium carbonate) which originated from an ancient shallow sea that once covered the area. The sand is very fine—much like talc. We finished our drive and noted that the park service must have “snowplows” to keep the road open from the drifting sand. We found a room in Las Cruces and learned that night that the wind we experienced was due to the wind field from Pacific Hurricane Pamela that was coming ashore in Mexico. It wouldn’t have changed our plans, but would have helped us understand what we are up against.

 

Headin' out