Today was mostly a driving day but we managed to squeeze in some sightseeing between the many miles we covered. After leaving Bandelier, we drove back through Albuquerque to visit Petroglyphs National Monument. While we have seen many different petroglyphs and pictographs on the trip so far (side note: it is amazing to note that I had never seen a real petroglyph before this trip - seems almost unfathomable now) but these were different in context and in form. Gone were the remote sites far away from civilization - these petroglyphs were literally in people’s backyards, just beyond their back stone fence. Also gone were the robotic looking forms and the bighorn sheep. These were birds and lizards as well as some highly decorated portraits. The petroglyphs were carved into the desert varnish on hunks of lava stone, not on sandstone or cliff walls like we have been used to seeing. They were however equally fascinating and mulling over what the images might be and their possible significance kept us engaged and entertained.
After a long stretch of driving we arrived at the White Sands Missile Range. We had to drive through the upper part since that is where the interstate goes. We passed 17 miles North of the Trinity site; this is where the first nuclear test was conducted. The site opens for visits twice a year ( not today) but it likely just looks like desert and scrub brush like the rest of the missile range that we could see.
A while later we drove past the Oscuro Bombing Range, another military test site. We stopped at the Valley of Fires campground briefly. We didn’t realize that we’d be driving through lava fields on our way to White Sands. The boys however had spotted prickly pear cacti all along our route and were absolutely itching to forage ripe prickly pears. We had only seen ripe ones in Zion where they could not be harvested so the boys were ecstatic to find some on public land just outside the campground. Using metal tongs, Seamus was our harvester. We picked a few and plan to try them for breakfast tomorrow.
Our final stop of the day was a surprise success. White Sands National Park at sunset was a huge hit with the whole family. It ranks among the most beautiful places that we have ever seen. Its otherworldly powder white sand looked like icing sugar and was cool to the touch. This was Alistair’s most anticipated park of the trip and, indeed, turned out to be his favourite so far. It was stunning.
We selected a dispersed camping spot tonight about a half hour from the park so we can head back in the morning. We are falling asleep with the windows open and lighting flashing purple behind the mountains in the distance.
