July 1, we found ourselves loaded up and heading west again. We spent a week in New Mexico again. We embarked on the trip so we could attend and I could photograph my friend's wedding, but made a whole vacation out of it and went early to visit with my parents.
On the way there, Colton loved the road cut out of the rocks in the Hill Country. Growing up there, that was one of my favorite things too. My dad used to tell us stories of when he worked for the road department and they'd blow out the rock with dynamite.
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The first day we were there, we drove to White Sands National Monument, admiring how we went from a brush country type scenery, to piney mountains, down into desert mountains, out to the flat desert in a hour- hour and a half drive.
White Sands was HOT, but very cool to see. We saw lots of wild life, and enjoyed sledding down the hills like snow! I think my boys might expect to sled everytime they go see Grandma and Pipa (p. paw)... first so much snow at Christmas and now White Sands sledding! Though, we quickly figured out how come everyone else was sledding down the small hills, not the giant ones like us. Yes, going down you really gained some speed and had fun, but coming back up in that soft, soft sand was very difficult! I think we each only went once or twice because it took about 10 minutes to come back up the steep hill.
To break the monotomy of the blaring white sand, we had a beautiful view of the mountains, and watched a thunder storm roll in over the mountain tops and across the flat of the desert. It was SO beautiful to see!
There are places where the road is cleared in the park, but the sand just builds up like a wall. We passed one spot and saw all this cool "graffiti" simply carved into the wall of sand, so we had to leave our mark too. The sand was so glittery- it amazed me!
But almost instantly after passing through this tunnel, which is less than 1/4 mile from the scenic overlook above, it turned into a piney forrest! I think Cloudcroft is 8600'ish feet high, and I began to suffer elevation sickness on our way up the mountain. I felt sleepy and nauseous all at the same time. I don't know how my dad has suffered for the last 18 months they've lived in the mountains!
On the way up the mountain we stopped at this old train tressle- that's how they used to get logs and materials up and down the mountain! I just can't imagine! I don't have any photos of the town of Cloudcroft itself because I was feeling VERY sick by that point, but if you are in the area, I'd definitely check it out... be sure to drink lots of water, I'm told it helps with the altitude adjustment! It looks like a mountain town you'd see in a movie. Very quaint and quiet and beautiful!
On the way down back to Ruidoso, we were looking in the trees for elk and bears, but came across a band of wild horses (well, as wild as horses are nowadays anyway)... we were able to get very close to them, and my dad, the man who taught me anything I know about horses, got almost close enough to touch one, if she would have let him, but we were disturbed by a speeding BMW who almost crashed into a foal when it came around the curve! I think all of us held our breath, but thankfully everything turned out perfect, except disturbing my magical moment with wild horses!
When we came back into Ruidoso, we were amazed at the full frontal view of the big ski resort mountain, Sierra Blanca. I was looking forward to going to the lodge this trip because we weren't able to due to the snow at Christmas. Unfortunately, we were unable to go again because of the horrible wildfires!
Still more New Mexican adventures and summer fun to blog about!!
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