{"id":27,"date":"2015-10-09T10:45:05","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T15:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/?p=27"},"modified":"2016-01-02T16:24:55","modified_gmt":"2016-01-02T22:24:55","slug":"white-sands-national-monument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/2015\/10\/09\/white-sands-national-monument\/","title":{"rendered":"White Sands National Monument"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you think about the desert in the South Western US, you probably think browns and tans with maybe some very sparse green. \u00a0But, if you’ve spent\u00a0time in New Mexico, especially the south west of the state, you might also think of another color.<\/p>\n

White. \u00a0Dune after dune of bright white sand.<\/p>\n

Driving into White Sands\u00a0National Monument<\/a> feels pretty much like going into any other National park. \u00a0A few speed bumps, a visitors center, and a fee station to enter. The amazing nature of this park really takes hold about a half mile past the fee station where a few scattered white spots on the sides of the road suddenly give way to an ocean of bright colorless sand.<\/p>\n

The pavement drops away and\u00a0you could easily convince\u00a0yourself you were driving across an arctic tundra. \u00a0The sand almost crunched\u00a0under the tires of my Jeep like a snow pack as we drove\u00a0further into the monument just before sunrise.<\/p>\n

\"Driving<\/a>

Driving there feels like driving on snow<\/p><\/div>\n

Walking out onto the dunes from one of the parking areas is odd enough, with the stark lack of color on the ground confusing your eyes at first. \u00a0Just as you get used to it and crest over the top of a ridge,\u00a0it really strikes you. \u00a0Bright white dunes, one after another, just roll out as far as you can see. \u00a0The mountains in the distance that would blend in with any other southwest horizon, pop out with brilliant colors against the foreground that is almost devoid of it.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The same colors stand out so much more against the white dunes.<\/p><\/div>\n

While we were there on top of one of the dunes, the sun finally came out behind clouds to the east. \u00a0We had a few moments of bright light across the ground, contrasting the sand against the orange and purple of the mountains in the distance, before a wall of fog rolled in from the north. \u00a0The next half hour or so was some of the creepiest foggy scenery imaginable. \u00a0This is what being in a blizzard feels like visually, and the chill of the early morning air in the desert only added to the illusion.<\/p>\n

Melody shot a few more stunning photos on the way out of the monument despite the limited visibility, and we called it a morning. \u00a0This teaser trip only serves to make a full day and a sunset return to\u00a0this place an absolute ‘must-do’.<\/p>\n

\"Foot<\/a>

Foot steps in White Sands<\/p><\/div>\n

One thing to keep in mind if you plan a trip here, is that the road past the monument also goes right through White Sands Missile Range<\/a>, and is prone to closures when the USAF is testing it’s new toys!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you think about the desert in the South Western US, you probably think browns and tans with maybe some very sparse green. \u00a0But, if you’ve spent\u00a0time in New Mexico, especially the south west of the state, you might also think of another color. White. \u00a0Dune after dune of bright white sand.… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/mountains.jpg?fit=1128%2C753&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p913i7-r","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66,"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions\/66"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homesweetroam.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}