Desert Oasis

Our map on the side of the camper -- getting more filled in every week.

Days 54-58 --  2/22-26/2010
We spent another few days making our way across the great state of Texas – moving on to Odessa where we’d already planned to hunker down in a hotel for one night to escape the unseasonably cold temps but, ended up staying for two nights due to 5 inches of snow that fell while we slept (our first thus far – snow that is, not sleep). 

Snow in Odessa, TX

On 2/24 we finally made our way to the other side of Texas and crossed into New Mexico.  The drive proved more interesting that I had anticipated.

 We all marveled at the busy “nodding donkeys” (oil pumps) that dotted the flat landscape in every direction.  We also admired the vast number of wind turbines to both sides of the highway as we continued west.  As we progressed further into the desert we became awestruck.  Never having been in the desert before, I was mesmerized by the sheer distance I could see looking in any one direction. 

 

Behind our campsite

 

The sunset in Lake Brantley State Park

We landed a campsite in Lake Brantley State Park’s Limestone Campground in Carlsbad, NM – a beautiful desert park built where a living sea once flourished.  The entire park sits atop 3,000 acres of limestone that was formed from the remains of sea life millions of years ago.  Though among the desert, the park boasts a 2,500 acre lake.  The sunset on the first night we were there was enough to make me fall in love with the west – colors that just can’t be captured by a camera (though we tried).  The kids enjoyed the landscape as well – running around between the prickly pear cacti and the other prickly flora down to the lakeside.  It really is beautiful in a way that I had not expected – presumably even more so in the spring months when the cacti are in bloom.  I wish we were going to be here to see it.

While there, as planned, we visited Carlsbad Caverns.  Walking over 800 feet down into a magical  underground world was like nothing else we’ve done.  It boggles the mind to walk among such majestic structures knowing that they were formed over 200 million years ago – kept a secret from the world until Jim White discovered them in the late 19th century and single-handedly put them ‘on the map.’

 

Entrance to the Caverns

 

Leaving the Park and the Caverns behind was hard to do. We could have explored much more but, we forged ahead toward Alamogordo, our next destination.  The drive took us up, over and through the Sacramento Mtns, up to 8,400 ft, where the snow base on the small ski slope there was of 62”. The town at the top of the mountains, Cloudcroft, is absolutely adorable and Scott and I have vowed to return there someday sans kids

Laid peacefully at the bottom of the Sacramento Mtns., with the San Andres Mtns. on the other side, lies the town of Alamogordo where we secured camping accommodations for four days and from which I write this blog.  My heart soars when I look around at the stark contrasts of the barren land against the dark jagged peaks that meet with the cerulean blue of the sky – it is unbelievably beautiful here. I think I could easily live here (of course I'm saying that in February when it's about 60 degrees and not 110).

  

Approaching White Sands National Monument

  

 Kerby making "snow angels" in the sand

A 4-mile hike across the white dunes

 

Yesterday we visited the White Sands National Monument just down the road. The 275 miles of white wonder is breathtakingly beautiful  We saw very few other people which made it seem even more special - like we had the world all to ourselves.  Not only is it beautiful but it's lots of fun too - who needs snow?!?