JENERIC TRAVELS: Day 44-45: Las Cruces NM (Eric)

Day 44-45 (July 12-13, 2021): As mentioned in the last post, our initial plan was to take two days to drive straight home. Instead, we decided to stay two nights in Las Cruces as a jumping off point to visit White Sands, which was recently made a National Park. The drive was long but uneventful, and we arrived at the Drury Inn, another pet friendly hotel, in the evening. We went to dinner in Mesilla, a historic part of the area. La Posta de Mesilla, a neat Mexican place, was actually the town’s old post office. The lobby area had aquariums and parrots that provided something unique as we waited for our table. The atmosphere was lively, but the food was only okay. We still enjoyed the whole experience.

After dinner, we spent a few minutes walking around Mesilla Plaza. Even though everything was closed for the night, it was still neat to see.

The next morning, our plan was to get up early to get to White Sands National Park before the heat became unbearable.

An interesting side note, we had researched the length of the drive from our hotel to the park, and it initially told us it was about 45 minutes. When we arrived in Las Cruces, we checked again, and Google Maps kept telling us that it would take almost two hours. We were a little confused about the difference until we zoomed in on the map and realized that the most direct route had been washed out by flash floods from severe thunderstorms the night before. After some more research, the maintenance crews had been working all day to clear the highway and were supposed to be done by the time we left in the morning. Sure enough, when we checked in the morning, the time was back down to approximately 45 minutes.

Anyway, the drive was interesting as you could clearly see the parts of the road that had been affected by flooding and mudslides. We were impressed that they were able to clear the road in less than 24 hours.

Even though we arrived at the park around 8:30am, it was still becoming a little warm. We did a short walk while we were waiting for the Visitor’s Center to open at 9am. What doesn’t help with the warmth is the fact that the white sand reflects the heat back at you. Having said that, the park was still a surreal experience to explore, but it’s important to have plenty of water if you’re going to visit the park during the summer.

The splashes of color here and there were beautiful and surprising…

Next, we purchased some sleds once the center opened for the purpose of sledding the dunes. This was a cool experience and a fun way to spend the morning after a long driving day yesterday. Both of us were laughing like little children. The walk back up the dune is a little challenging, but this is definitely something worth doing.

After we finished sledding, we did another short hike in the center of the park as this is where you can see some really impressive views of the miles of pure white sand dunes.

At this point, the heat was becoming a little two intense, so we decided to find a place to eat brunch and come up with a plan for what to do during the hot part of the day with the intention of returning to White Sands in the evening. Jenny found a place in Alamogordo called Our Country Kitchen which didn’t have as much atmosphere as La Posta, but it had good breakfast food. While eating, we ended up deciding two things: 1) for the rest of the day, we decided to venture up into the mountains of the Lincoln National Forest to escape the heat 2) spontaneously, we also decided to add an additional night outside Carlsbad Caverns to visit both Guadalupe Mountains National Park and the Caverns. By the time we finished breakfast, we had booked our reservation for the caves and the hotel. I know we’re a little crazy considering we’d already been traveling for six and a half weeks, but that’s how we roll.

Lincoln National Forest was exactly what we were hoping for, a beautiful escape from the heat. There was about a 15 degree difference in temperature from the desert below. We found a hike along the Osha Trail, a relatively short but scenic loop trail.

There’s a historic trestle bridge in this picture. You can also see White Sands in the distance…

Beautiful forest that provides a stark contrast to the desert…

Again, you can see White Sands in the distance…

After the hike, we headed into the nearby town of Cloudcroft, a quaint old-western style town with interesting shops and restaurants. We stopped at a Kenna Belle’s bakery to get some cookies and drinks.

Jenny went into a few stores, and I sat outside on a man-bench and entertained myself by taking pictures of hummingbirds.

We spent a little more time exploring the area including getting a closer look at the trestle bridge we saw from our earlier hike. Lincoln National Forest is definitely a beautiful area, and we would both return to spend more time here.

After leaving the area, we returned to Alamogordo to eat dinner at Applebee’s. I know not terribly unique, but the town has limited dining options, especially during the pandemic.

After dinner, we returned to White Sands for a very zen experience to watch the sunset from the center of the park. Jenny and I both felt thoroughly relaxed, and this was definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip. We both wish we could have bottled up the feeling to cope with the stress of the coming school year. It was a nice way to end an awesome day.