A Day near Alamogordo, NM - White Sands, Missiles, and Pistachios

While camping in the mountains near Cloudcroft, New Mexico, we felt we were too close to some great places in the valley to ignore. So we decided to make the 33-mile drive downhill towards the city of Alamogordo. Our main reason to make the drive was to go to White Sands National Park, just a few miles on the other side of town.

We visited White Sands six years ago, and we have fond memories of the miles of white that stretch to the horizon. It looks like we have taken a wrong turn and found ourselves in the snow. But this is actually white gypsum. Different from brown sand that is made of silica, white sand is so fine that it feels like talcum powder.

Just like snow, they use road graders to push all this white stuff out of the way to make roads that go miles into the dunes.

Those graders also clear parking lots, and we found a deserted spot and started a trek up into the dunes. We have been blessed with a beautiful day with almost no wind. That can be a rare commodity in this part of New Mexico, and makes all the difference in having a good day here at White Sands. It is miserable to visit on a windy day, when visitors are sand-blasted at every step.

One of the most fun things to do is to sled down the dunes of white stuff.

We found that choosing a trail that had already been packed down would make for a faster slide down the hill.

It's good exercise climbing up those dunes over and over to slide back down.

We had read that sand disks were available for purchase at the visitor center gift shop, and we didn't expect them to have bargain prices. They didn't have any used disks on this busy day, so the only option was the $24.99 new sleds. You can bring it back at the end of day for a $5 gift certificate that has to be used at the gift shop. So sledding isn't a cheap activity at the national park.

But this morning at our cinnamon roll breakfast, Denisa asked if anyone in the campground had any sleds that we could borrow. A neighbor that lives full-time at the campground brought two over for us to use for the day. We stopped at Walmart on our way to buy wax for the disks. We reapplied wax every few trips down the sand to get some extra speed. 

The instructions at the gift shop say to lean back in the sled and enjoy the ride down the hill. Denisa obviously did.

Mark couldn't get his long legs inside the disk, so he went feet first. His extra weight and riding posture meant that his trips down hill--even with waxing--looked more like slow motion video.

The other use for a sand disk is that it gives you portable shade if you forgot your brimmed hat. Denisa was so excited to go sledding that she didn't take her water or hat when she jumped out of the pickup. Like usual, we walked further than we had planned and needed some shade on this sunny day.

The sand is bordered by mountains, and we walked far enough into this section to see the peaks in the background. There are "trails" through the sand, that are actually points connected by colored posts sticking up in the sand. The longest one is a 4.7-mile loop. Visitors are cautioned to spot the next post before continuing on the hike. It's very easy to get disoriented in this sea of white and lose where you parked your vehicle. We trekked up and down the dunes--that all began to look the same.

We have definitely wandered into another of God's wonders this morning! What a beautiful day at a wonderful place!

After we brushed the sand off, we headed into the town of Alamogordo. Our next stop was the Museum of Space History. While we didn't spring for the museum ticket, we did stop to see the free outdoor exhibits. The museum would be a great indoor option on a windy or hot day, but we were glad to spend our day outdoors enjoying the nice blue sky.

The nearby White Sands Missile Range gives this area a reason to celebrate the rockets and missiles that have been tested here. You can barely see Denisa near the big fin of this rocket named, "Little Joe."

Another reason for our trip to the space museum was to see the International Space Hall of Fame. Denisa is reading the grave marker of Ham--the first Astrochimp. The chimp's name came from an abbreviation of "Holloman Aero-medical." Ham came to nearby Holloman Air Force Base as a 6-year-old chimp. His intensive training culminated on January 3, 1961, when he rode in a capsule perched atop an 83-foot rocket launched from Florida. The rocket reached 5800 miles per hour and was recovered at sea, proving that mankind could make a similar journey. Ham lived most of the rest of his life at a zoo in North Carolina and died at the age of 28. He is buried here in Alamogordo.

Ever since we left Big Bend National Park, we have been seeing billboards along the highway that advertised Pistachioland. The billboards worked, because Denisa couldn't wait to visit this little touristy stop that touts that world's largest pistachio statue.

We bought tickets for the pistachio farm tour, which took us on a tram ride through the orchard.

While most of the country's pistachios are grown in California, this little section of New Mexico has the right conditions for these unusual trees as well.

The trees were just ready to burst into bloom, and they'll make a nice display of blossoms in a week or two. We had an informative guide, who explained the harvesting process and the workings of a pistachio farm. In the picture above, you will notice that the trees have a different root stock, and about a foot above the ground a different tree has been grafted that has the best nut-producing stock.

They also grow grapes at the pistachio farm. The temperate weather in Alamogordo is not much different than that of the vineyards of Germany. This German grape variety "Gewurtzraminer" likes it here in New Mexico as well. We were glad to type that long name instead of trying to pronounce it.

One of the best parts of Pistachioland is the gift shop, where free samples were offered. We got to try almost 20 different types of flavored pistachios that were grown and packaged right here. Then we bought bags of our favorites.

We also bought their home-made pistachio ice cream from the shop on the farm. A long line formed at the ice cream window on this beautiful afternoon.

What a sweet way to end our sweet day of touring White Sands, missiles, and pistachios in Alamogordo, New Mexico!