Nov. 12....Thursday....Alamogordo, White Sands, City of Rocks!

Where to start??? It was a busy day! We had planned on a major hike this morning, but decided, with so much to do, we'd take an abbreviated one (1/2 mile) around the riparian area of Oliver Lee State Park. Very enjoyable! Then off to the New Mexico Space Museum - I wasn't aware of this, but much of the research and testing behind our missile and space programs took place in and around Alamogordo and White Sands. Still does, I guess. An interesting museum - Amy took a ride in a Mercury Capsule - I can't believe guys went up in space in this!

Also, they have a moon rock!!!

Which isn't all that surprising if you think about it, since the moon landing was faked and staged right here in New Mexico....all they did was pick up a few rocks from around the film set!!!! duh!

OK - after some shopping at a good grocery store in Alamogordo (there will be slim pickins for a few days where we're headed), we had a visit and picnic lunch at White Sands National Monument. Incredible setting!!

At one point, driving over the gypsum-covered road, I thought I was back in snowy Vail!

It has a well-developed picnic area, if you can believe it. To me, it looks like we're out on a ice-covered lake in winter!

Then it was off for a three hour drive to City of Rocks State Park - kind of a naturally-formed answer to Stonehenge. Not sure if you can see all the rocks sticking straight out of the ground or not in this:

I'll get some more pics tomorrow, as we are going to hike here. We're not far from Silver City, a place we've wanted to spend a couple days at. Unsure if we'll stay here another night, or move closer into  the town. We'll decide that tomorrow.....

In the meantime, I'm sipping a lovely Bandol (2009 Ch. Pibarnon for you fellow wine snobs), snacking on some Comte and crackers.....dinner is paella, salad, and a really nice french bread we got at the grocery store this morning....it was another wonderful day in the Land of Enchantment.