Category: New Mexico

Today we visited the newest National Park in the United States. White Sands National Park was designated a National Park last year, prior to that it had been a National Monument since the 1930’s. The upgrade means more funding for infrastructure.

The drive over was a relatively easy 250 miles on I-25. Traffic was light and more importantly there were no 35 mph cross winds. The last 30 miles are thru the White Sands Missile Testing Facility run by the Army. The park is surrounded by the missile testing facility and is sometimes closed due to missile testing.

We arrived at the visitors center right off the main road and our first impression was a little underwhelming. The sand was white, but it was full of the normal desert scrub brush so it was interesting but not impressive. After getting our park passport stamped we headed in on the entrance road and came into the real park and it was indeed impressive.

The white sand is caused by the erosion of gypsum deposits on the surface. There are two places like this in the Chihuahua Desert the one here and a national park in Mexico.

The gypsum deposits cover 250 square miles here. The dunes are incredibly bright and if you stay here a while you need to take care of your eyes because the light is so intense it can cause temporary blindness.

The gypsum has a really different texture to it, it feels more like talcum powder than sand. It is also a little easier to walk on than sand, as it seems to support our weight better. Also because the white reflects the sun the ground is cooler than regular sand. One of the fun activities here is to sand sled, sliding down the hills on Frisbee like sleds.

Despite the inhospitable environment there is a surprising amount of plant and wild life in the park. Many of the plants have adapted to grow quickly when they are covered by sand so they can return to the surface.

The newest national park is a great addition to the system. We hope in the future that they develop a campground in the park as it would be really cool to camp right in the sand for a couple of nights. Right now camping is limited to tents. I am guessing that one of the reasons there is no camping is due to the surrounding missile testing range.

We had visited Santa Fe about 15 years ago and we had very pleasant memories of it. It was the original city in what became New Mexico and has been the capital of the region for over 300 years under both the Spanish, Mexican , and US governments. It has a rich cultural heritage and some very interesting architecture near its central plaza.

There are two ways to get from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. In the morning we opted for the Turquoise Trail Scenic Highway. We seek out the roads that have been named Scenic Highways and have had great experiences traveling these roads so we were excited to try another one. About halfway on the highway was a town called Madrid which was described as an old coal mining town that had been converted into an artists colony after the mine closed. Madrid was an interesting stop with a lot of homes that had been converted into artist and artisan studios. We enjoyed a walk around the town. Unfortunately the pandemic seems to have hit the town pretty hard as about 25% of the shops were closed and had for sale signs in the windows.

The first half of the Turquoise Trail into Madrid had been unimpressive, so we assumed the scenic part would start after Madrid. We were disappointed, this is the least scenic, scenic highway we have traveled on in the US.

New Mexico is famous for it’s green and red chile salsas particularly the green chile salsa. Fortunately for us our neighbors for the first two nights were native New Mexicans and they told us that their favorite restaurant was called La Choza and that they ate their every couple of weeks. After a bit of an adventure finding a legal place to park Scout we arrived at La Choza about 12:30pm thinking we had missed the lunch rush only to be told the wait would be 30 to 45 minutes. Ton had enchiladas with green and red chile, and I had a combo plate of a chile relleno, and a dish I had never heard of called Carne Adovada. It was all delicious and the spice level was high enough to even impress Ton. The Carne Adovada was pork mixed with chile sauce, oregano, and secret spices. It was delicious and Ton enjoyed the sauce enough to compare it favorably with a Thai dish which is a high complement.

I received some ideas on where we could park Scout within reasonable distance of old town from the waiter, and we were off to see if our memories of Santa Fe would stand the test of time. While Santa Fe had clearly undergone a pretty good growth spurt since we were last here, the old town retained its charm and won us over again.

We finished the day with a quick stop at Santa Fe brewing and the Costco in Albuquerque.

We slept in today. Between the long drive and the wind yesterday we were pretty worn out. As we were working on breakfast I realized that today was the end of the Premier League season, so a quick search of the TV and we found the Liverpool game. Our morning was set, we sat back enjoyed our coffees and watched the game.

After the game was over we decided to head into the old town in Albuquerque. When we parked Scout on a side street we saw an interesting place up the street called the Sawmill Market. We decided to check it out and it is a historic building that has been converted into a bunch of restaurants and small food shops. It really reminded Ton of similar places we have seen in Europe, particularly one in Lyon, and another in Turin. We were tempted to try a couple of the restaurants but were holding out for a special dinner we had planned later.

The town was founded by the Spanish in 1706. The old town is built around a typical Spanish colonial square with small roads branching off of it. The old town is full of artist galleries, tourist stores, and restaurants. It is a nice walk and the old adobe buildings are interesting to look at.

We popped into the Catholic Church which was built in the 1790’s. It is a Spanish Mission style church made of adobe. The walls of the church are over 5 feet thick to help keep it cool during the hot summer. While it is small compared to the giant cathedrals we have been seeing in Europe, we were quite taken with it.

One of our friends in Oregon takes care of our mail when we travel. She lived in Albuquerque about 25 years ago, and when we told her that we were visiting Albuquerque she told us her favorite Chinese Restaurant in the US is here. As she is from Taiwan we took that as a good recommendation. We had planned to go there for a late lunch but they did not open until 3 pm, so it turned into an early dinner. When we arrived a little before 3 we were the only customers, but the waitress was very friendly and handed us a large book like menu. After we told her our friend had recommended the place she grabbed the book, took one laminated page out of it and said this is the menu for Chinese people. After consulting with her we picked duck and a seafood hot pot. Ton pronounced it the best duck she has had in the US, and the seafood hot pot was excellent. Thank you Miriam for a great recommendation you were right it is one of the best Chinese restaurants we have been to. If you are ever in Albuquerque check out East Ocean Restaurant

Today is going to be a short one as the day was mostly spent driving about 350 miles in a constant 35 mile cross wind. The day started with a surprise when I realized the water hose had frozen over night. I knew it had gotten cold and turned the heater on in Scout about midnight. In the morning I joined 3 other RV owners who were planning to leave in hauling our hoses into the sun to melt the 25 ft ice cube inside.

I spent most of the day wrestling Scout down I-40 along with a surprising amount of traffic. The trip took about an hour longer than planned due to the traffic and the need to slow down due to the wind. On top of that I forgot that we changed time zones crossing from Arizona to New Mexico. So instead of arriving about 3 pm it was nearly 5pm when we parked for the night.

Our one stop for the day was in Winslow Arizona. The other day one of our long drive conversations was about which 5 albums we would take to a desert island. The only one that was on both of our lists was The Eagles Greatest Hits. So when we set off Ton said we had to swing thru Winslow to visit the corner. If you are an Eagles fan you will know immediately what I am talking about. If you are not than I will quote you a famous line from their first hit “Take it Easy”, the line is “Standin on a corner in Winslow Arizona.”

Recognizing a good source of revenue the town of Winslow has dedicated a corner to the Eagles and it draws quite a few people into town. In addition to the park, there are two stores dedicated to The Eagles and Route 66 memorabilia. After doing our part to contribute to the economy of Winslow we were back on our way.

We are settled in for the night, but it feels like we have swapped our RV for a boat, as the constant buffeting of the winds has us rocking around like we are at sea. The wind is supposed to continue all night so hopefully we won’t get seasick.