Land of Enchantment

We are now in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.  We left Arizona on Tuesday, the 25th of March and planned to stay at the City of Rocks State Park, near Deming.  However, when we arrived there was no place large enough for us to park.  We were disappointed as our friends in Quartzsite had said it was a great place to camp and hike.  In the end, we stayed at an Escapees Rainbow park in Deming for one night, and then drove a few miles east to Las Cruces, which is the second largest city in New Mexico.  Our plan was to stay there for three nights, but we actually stayed four.

White sand as far as the eye can see

 
There are some very interesting things to see around Las Cruces.  Probably the most interesting for us was the White Sands National Monument.   It is the largest area of gypsum sand dunes in the world.  The sand is soft and very bright to look at in the sun.  It looks like snow, and there were many families there with saucers and snowboards.  They were sliding down the hills, just as if it were snow, but they had on shorts and were barefoot.  Lots of barbeques and picnicking going on as well.

Cheers!  She made it to the top.  
Linda's exercise for the day

'Snowboarders' on White Sand

Patriot missile

Also in the White Sands area, is the White Sands Missile Range.  This is where the first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945, at the Trinity Site.  The designing, building and ultimate detonation was known as the Manhattan Project.  The missile range is still an active part of the United States Army and continues to provide missile testing and recovery among other operations.  Parts of it are open to the public and there is a wonderful museum and missile display.

The white sands must be a very good area for air and space travel as there are also the Air & Space Museum in Alamogordo and Spaceport America, the first commercial space flight company, 30 miles north.  We were unable to tour Spaceport America, as they were not open, but we did go to the Air & Space Museum.

Ham, the chimpanzee, in his capsule

An Apollo type space capsule

The museum was fascinating!  Twenty eight countries participated in the completion by donating artifacts and exhibits of man's conquest of space.  There were displays of space travel vehicles, satellites and even the capsule that Ham, the first chimpanzee sent into space, rode in.  Ham is buried at the site of the museum.  There is also an IMAX theater on site that doubles as a planetarium.  It has different features throughout the week.  We happened to see a documentary called Tornado Alley, which was very informative.

One of the highlights of Las Cruces itself was the Veterans Memorial Park, honoring veterans from all wars and a special tribute to the soldiers involved in the Bataan Death March.  What those soldiers endured on that 60 mile march, was horrible beyond belief.  Many of them didn't survive and those who did, suffered horrific abuse at the hands of the Japanese soldiers once they arrived at the concentration camp.  Once again we are reminded of the sacrifices of many for the freedoms we take for granted.

Statue of soldiers from the Bataan Death March of WWII

We are now in a very nice RV resort in Elephant Butte, outside of Truth or Consequences.  T or C is known for its' mineral hot springs and Ralph Edwards.  It is also known as the last place where Linda's grandparents lived.  We were able to find their house and must say, it was the best looking on the block...maybe the whole town.  Time has not been kind to T or C.

We move on in the morning to Albuquerque, where we hope to spend at least a couple of weeks and travel by car to places like Santa Fe and Taos.  We are looking forward to it.  Cheers!