Pandemic Diaries - Year 2, November

16 December 2021

 

In mid November, we drove over to Las Cruces, New Mexico, for a short visit.  I know, that was about a month ago - it took me that long to finish uploading the photos and writing the blogs about our drive to Arizona.  So to resume, we went to Las Cruces.

 

The eldest of my three brothers lives in Las Cruces, and Richard's old college buddy (F) and his wife (J) are wintering in Santa Fe, NM.  Turns out Las Cruces is just about halfway between Tucson and Santa Fe, so it seemed like a good place to meet up.

 

We found a nice hotel near the oldest part of the city, and met up with my brother for our first night.  We knew the next few days would be busy exploring the region with our friends.  Turns out they came to the same restaurant we picked for dinner!!!  It was funny and unexpected, but we made plans to meet up the next day.

 

It isn't always easy coordinating four adults, but we agreed a drive vaguely north to Alamogordo and the White Sands National Monument sounded like a good thing to do on a somewhat cool but sunny day.

 

Turns out that Alamogordo is home to the New Mexico Museum of Space History, which not only explains how this area became vital to the US space program, but also houses the International Space Hall of Fame.  

This museum ended up being much more fun that I had imagined.  There were many interactive exhibits, and while there were detailed explanations, many things were geared to involve children in learning about space exploration.  

Just for starters, the two elevators looked like the entrance to some of the space ships.  And inside each elevator were images of the control panels for, well, whichever space ship.  So of course J and I started pretending we were flying the space ship as we rode to the top floor, pushing buttons and the throttle and making zooming noises.  

There were various capsules and space suits, all kinds of technical information about the race to space, the propulsion of space ships, and one thing that confused me, using gyroscopes to navigate.  (Because once in space, a compass won't work.)

 

The most fun things were flight simulators!  J and I had a great time - we both crashed the space shuttle on our first try as it was returning to Earth, though my second attempt was more successful.  Then there was the simulator to land a probe on Mars (I crashed), and then looking for the probe while bouncing around on Mars.  (I kept crashing into a Mars boulder.)  Our husbands were less hands-on, but J and I had a good time, even if we both crashed several times.

Anyway, if you're interested in space exploration, this museum really is worth the visit.  There also was one whole section on how the TV show Star Trek kept abreast of developments with NASA, and how some of what we saw on the show eventually became reality!  ("Fascinating," in a deadpan Spockian voice.)

A quick lunch, then we headed back toward Las Cruces so we could go to White Sands National Park.   This was fascinating, even though the temperatures had dropped a bit and the sky clouded over.

White Sands is one of those weird natural phenomena that happen rarely, because all conditions must be present and set up in perfect sequence in order to make things happen.  Kind of in the middle of nowhere, except the White Sands Missile Range is also there, but that's beside the point. 

 

So, White Sands is a 275 square mile (or 712 square kilometers) field of white gypsum sand crystals.  This isn't regular sand, like on beaches - this is soft and powdery, and white like snow sand.  During rainy season, the water runs through the nearby mountains and dissolves the gypsum in the rock.  This dissolved gypsum and rain runs off into the Tularosa Basin, and forms a lake during this time.  Eventually, the water evaporates, leaving gypsum crystals behind.  The desert winds blow against the fragile crystals, which break apart and rub against each other, eventually turning into the powdery sand-like substance that forms the huge dunes.

 

There are various animals living on and in the dunes, and these animals have adapted to this very unusual environment.  Some animals have actually changed their coloration so they can more easily hide from predators in this white white white environment! 

All that information, and more, came from the visitor's center, so definitely stop there.  They have a film that explains everything, as well as a nice gift shop.

 

Interesting, and pretty much the only place like this on earth!  For more info, here's the park's website:  https://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm 

 

The outer edges of the huge dune field had various grasses and desert plants like yucca and agave.  The plants help to stabilize the dunes, although the shapes and sizes of the dunes constantly change due to wind, rain, and people running or sliding down the dunes. 

 

We drove around, first on tarmac roads, and and then on roads that were packed gypsum sand.  It really was like driving around on snow, without the sliding on ice effect.  We parked at a couple of places so we could walk on the boardwalks over the dunes, and look at all the plants.  Didn't see many animals except some birds, and one large dead beetle.

We did climb up a few dunes, and from the top it's like looking across rolling hills of snow.  Really, it's that white.  Totally other worldly.  Quite a few movies have used White Sands as alien or outer space locations, and this national park really does have that feel.  It really is a strange, almost eerie place, especially as the day became more and more grey.

 

The most disorienting part was that yes, initially the dunes look like regular beach dunes.  But then, there are blue-purple mountains in the distance.  And somehow, craggy mountains and sandy dunes don't quite go together in our human experience.  In some of the photos, the bluish mountains actually look like the ocean in the distance!  I know it really isn't the ocean, but I think our brains are so used to sand and ocean going together, we unconsciously pair them and so we see what we THINK we should see, not what we actually are viewing!  Totally disorienting!

 

Of course, the other part of my brain kept whispering "snow!  It looks like snow!"  This while I was climbing hills and dunes of "snow" in my bare feet.  Another moment of confusion because somehow, this just didn't quite compute!

 

If you ever get a chance, go here.  Seriously, it was fun and confusing and weird and absolutely worth it!   (Lots of photos, but more narrative after them.)

Our second day, we explored Mesilla (pronounced meh-SEE-yah), the older town almost merging with Las Cruces.  Most of us think of this part of the US as being taken over or stolen from Mexico after the war with Mexico in the 1800s, but this region was actually purchased as part of the Gadsden Purchase.  In 1854, a detachment from Fort Fillmore first raised the US flag here.  Four years later, the Butterfield stage coach began its run through Mesilla.

 

Mesilla was the capital of the Confederate Arizona Territory, which encompassed modern-day Arizona and New Mexico.   Yes, the Civil War reached all the way to the US southwest, and this region sided with the South.  There were actually two battles of Mesilla involving the troops at Fort Fillmore.  Neither battle was decisive, but they are definitely remembered locally.  (This is one of those things that most of us never learned in US history in school!)

Billy the Kid is probably the most famous (and notorious) citizen - he was sentenced to death at the county courthouse, and the building is still standing (with a sign to mark the location).  Billy (or Kid) was tracked down and killed by local hero Pat Garrett.  However, later on Garrett was mysteriously murdered in an arroyo not far from Las Cruces.  He's buried in a local cemetery.

A bit gruesome, I know, but such was life in the Old West.  One building had a sign telling story about the man who ran erected that building which housed his business.  He was murdered, and a relative took over the business.  He was murdered, and another relative took over.  Several relatives were killed in similar ways, then some business partners.  I lost track of how many unlucky businessmen died in that one location.

But there was a pretty church that dated back to 1851, although the present building was put up about 50 years later.  There's a lovely park with pecan and pistachio trees, both nuts grown in orchards throughout the region.  The buildings are 100 to 150 years old and are colorful, and there are interesting shops to browse as well as tasty treats to eat.

We moseyed in and out of shops, sat in the park enjoying the sunshine, and nibbled on some of those treats.  It was a nice way to spend our morning.

In the afternoon, we drove out to the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.  This was more interesting than it sounds like - the building had displays that gave information about farming and ranching, both history and technology.  But this was also an interactive museum, with barns and animals and corrals.  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, so J and I walked all over to visit the sheep, cows, and horses.  

 

Unfortunately, the interactive part didn't quite include a petting zoo sort of experience, but we did learn all about milk cows.  Turns out New Mexico is the #6 state in milk production in the US!  Who knew?  I always think of New Mexico as being desert, but much of the state is dedicated to milk farms!  We talked to several cows, and the calves were very interested.  Well, there was someone going around feeding the animals, and it was more likely the cows and calves were hoping we were the next feeding crew.  But they were quite cute, as were the sheep.  The big longhorn steer were rather intimidating, though they didn't make any threatening moves.  I kept my distance, and was glad they were fenced in.

 

It was an interesting museum, especially having so much outdoor space in the working farm area.  Another place worth visiting! 

 

Okay, the last place I want to talk about is the rest area that is either the last rest area in Arizona before arriving in New Mexico if you are heading east on I-10, or the first rest area in AZ if you are heading west.  I have no idea if there's a name for this area, or if there's a town nearby.

But it's one of those oddities that is remarkable, especially since there really wasn't any information available at the rest area.

 

The geology in this part of the state changes from deserts ringed by hills and mountains, to giant rocks piled in odd formations.  We have no idea how they came to be here, how they were formed, anything.  Just huge giant boulders, bigger than cars, bigger than semis and trailers.  And signs all over saying don't climb on the rocks!

 

So, since there wasn't any information, we've named a few of the rock formations.

 

There's the Breaching Whale:

 

 And the Sleeping Elephant:

And of course the ever-present warning sign, in case people forget that this is the land of scorpions and venomous snakes like rattlers.

I'll close with a map showing our route around New Mexico.  I-10 goes straight from Tucson to Las Cruces, so I didn't bother to include the map of Arizona.  Our drive into NM is red, and the drive to Alamogordo and White Sands is in magenta.