WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT

White Sands


During our stay in Alamogordo, New Mexico we went out to White Sands National Monument.  Such a fascinating place with it's shifting white gypsum sand. The brilliant white dunes are ever changing: growing, cresting, then slumping, but always advancing. The gypsum that forms the white sands was deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea that covered this area 250 million years ago.  From a geologist point of view, I find this place awe inspiring. You can walk on pristine sand, with no other footprints early in the day, have a nice picnic lunch and watch the sun go down later.  Here are some pictures from out there.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

David

 



Felicia



Margaret

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

Santa Fe Area


Left Abiquiu and headed to Santa Fe for a week or so.  Lots of good Mexican food and great shopping.  Did our usual wandering while we were there.  Pecos National Historical Park was quite interesting.  A Franciscan church out in the middle of no where.  We also went to Fort Union, a cavalry fort to protect the area from Indians. 

The jail house



Caldera region

On one of our days wandering we made a huge loop out past Los Alamos and back to Santa Fe.  We drove out along a route through the Valle Grande, a huge caldera region that often has elk herds.  We didn't see any this time.

Fall Color was everywhere and so beautiful.

Continuing our journey on our loop trip we went to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.  Some very interesting geologic processes going on here creating a unique landscape. 

  From Santa Fe we headed south to Alamogordo, New Mexico and White Sands National Park.  That will be my next blog....hope you enjoy.

ABIQUIU

ABIQUIU WANDERING

Drove up to Abiquiu Lake and Corps of Engineers Campground after our adventure in Albuquerque.  Have stayed here before, but it's been quite a while.  Such a beautiful lake and the campground is really nice.  We did quite a bit of exploring while we were staying there.  Driving all the way up to Colorado.  Here are some of the pictures from the Abiquiu area.

Camel Rock

 

Visitor in our campsire

 

 

 

Drove out to Christ in the Desert Monastery near Abiquiu.  It was a beautiful drive down a dirt road for about 15 miles.  Sometimes the road was VERY narrow and a little scary.  It was worth the drive though.  The Fall colors were outstanding.

 

 

 

We wandered almost every day while we were staying at Abiquiu.  We took a drive just to look at Fall foliage and found some beautiful areas. 

 

 

 Another day of wandering took us to Rio Grande Gorge and the bridge there.  It's pretty high up, so if you have a fear of heights I wouldn't recommend it. 

 

 

 

Overall we had a great time up at Abiquiu Lake.  Will certainly go back to the area again in the future.  From Abiquiu we headed to Santa Fe for about a week.  Will do that blog next.