White Sands 2021 - National Park #44

 Saturday February 13, 2021

Well, today and last night were fun.  We rolled into the Holiday Inn around 6:30 and discovered that none of the Alamogordo restaurants are open for dine-in.  So, we went to Super Walmart and got a few things (Keurig coffee, windshield wiper fluid, since our rented minivan ran out, etc.)  Then we stopped at the Subway for Grant, Ryan and me and at Dell Taco for Nick and we ate back in the room.  Grant has recently gotten back into chess and we’ve been watching this show on Netflix, The Queen’s Gambit, which is all about chess, and so we all played some chess, watched some tv and went to bed.

 This morning we drove about 15 minutes to White Sands National Park.  When we first pulled up, I was disappointed to see that they were still using the national monument sign but as we pulled into the visitor center parking lot, we saw another, new sign that used the word “Park”.  We had to wait in a line to enter the Visitor Center so it was just one family at a time, but that was fine.  We were able to buy magnets and hat pins.  YAY!!!!

We bought an annual pass (hoping to visit five more national parks this year) then drove to the very end of the park and “hiked” a five-mile loop trail called Alkali Flat Trail.  It was not flat but it was very cool.  Up and down the dunes the whole time and you had to look from one marker to the next to determine where to go.  This was definitely like no other hike we’ve been on.  It was a little monotonous but everyone got along well and we took our shoes off and walked barefoot through a lot of it.  There were also a surprising number of dogs on the trail with us.  And the weather was PERFECT -sunny and cool but not cold. 

After the hike we returned to the parking lot around 12:30 and drove over to the Roadrunner picnic area and ate our now famous trail lunch of pepperoni, Ritz cracker and cream cheese sandwiches – that and apples and oranges. 

We drove back into town and drove over, just to see the New Mexico Museum of Space History.  It was closed but cool to look at from the outside.  

From there a trip through the Sonic drive-in for “happy hour” drinks, then back to the hotel room. 

We’d planned on leaving tomorrow and driving to Marfa, via El Paso, then spending the night in Fort Stockton and coming home Monday.  BUT we’ve been getting email warnings about making sure all outside pipes are wrapped because it’s going to be 6 degrees tomorrow night and 1 degree Monday night.  Nick and I are both a little nervous about the weather, the pool, the house, etc. so we’ve leaving very early tomorrow and driving back to Dallas, hopefully arriving before 7pm so that we can pick up Hooper.

This afternoon we hung out in the room and played chess and Qwixx – very fun – then Nick picked up Johnny Carinos Italian food for dinner and it was good.  Now, it’s 6:45pm, feels much later, and we’ll all just hanging out in our very comfortable room.  I think we’re going to watch a movie and then hit the sack.

Crazy short trip but I’m so glad we were able to knock out park #44.  It didn’t disappoint and it’s been so nice to just get away from the city.  Now fingers crossed that our pool is still working when we get back.  The temps won’t rise above freezing until this coming Friday.  I think this is the coldest it’s ever been in DFW.