New Mexico & Tuscon

We briefly stopped in Ruiduso, NM before heading to Alamagordo and the White Sands National Park. It was our anniversary on the 22nd so we had a nice dinner the night before. Its also Patti's 9th year since her kidney transplant and her nephew's birthday. We celebrate all three.

Next day we went to Alamagordo and White Sands National Park. Its 145, 000 acres of white sand dunes, which are actually composed of gypsum. It looks like an alien landscape. Kids get to ride sleds down the big slopes of dunes and Patti pretended to make a snow angel with mixed results.

White Sands only became a national park in 2019. The park is completely surrounded by military bases and a missile range. Consequently, there is some tension between the military and the park as missiles have been known to land in portions of the park to destroy the visitor center or other ecologically protected areas.

Tuscon:

After Alamagordo we drove to Tucson to visit old friends. After a delightful evening and a home cooked meal, our friend Paul took us to Saguaro National Park. If you like saguaro cacti, this is the place. They are only found in this part of the country. The saguaro doesn't grow arms until its at least 70 years old, so if you see one with arms, its very old. These stately giants are exciting to see especially when there are thousands of them. You can also hike up to some petroglyphs that are thousands of years old.

In the afternoon, we visited a beautiful mission church called San Xavier del Bac mission. It was built in the 1700's and features baroque architecture. Its located on the Tohono O'Oddam reservation and serves the needs of the local community by providing a Mission school and Sunday mass.

We ended the day with a fabulous meal at an Italian restaurants with our friends.