Crossing the Southwest

Tuesday we drove from Las Cruces to Carlsbad, with a stop at White Sands National Monument. White Sands has endless rolling dunes of perfectly white gypsum sand. It was kind of crazy how white everything was. That day was especially white because it was cloudy and overcast, so even the sky was white/gray. It was also incredibly windy so there was a lot of sand blowing over the tops of the dunes, which meant that they kind of blended in with the sky. Even with sunglasses on it was blindingly bright, so sometimes it was hard to tell if you were about to head up a dune or down one – there was just absolutely no perspective!

So hard to tell what was dune and what was sky!

The fast dunes can move up to something like 30 ft / year.

Close up of the ground - streaked from all the wind.

We rented a “sled” from the gift shop and went sledding down some of the dunes. That was hilarious because it meant that we had to climb up the dunes. I think I did pretty well – there was a lot of what seemed like walking in place as the dune kept collapsing under my feet, but I always made it up. My mom, on the other hand, had a bit more difficulty. At one point I look back and see her trying to crawl up on her hands and feet while laughing about how she wasn’t getting anywhere. Then she rolled onto her back and decided she would let the dune slowly move her down rather than use the sled. Eventually she made it to the top and sledded like a champ, so that was good.

After that we drove the rest of the way to Carlsbad, passing through some quaint little town on top of some mountain – some SNOWY mountain! While heading up I noticed that some of the cars in the other direction were covered in snow, and then it started snowing! Totally unexpected in the middle of New Mexico, but I suppose we were at something like 7,000 feet of elevation. It was funny because some of the snow covered hills looked *exactly* like the white sand dunes from earlier. That was definitely a nice surprise in the middle of a monotonous drive.

Oh, and the quote of the day was on our way to White Sands-

Me: “Speed reduced ahead.”

Mom: “To 65? That means I have to speed up!”

Does that give you a better idea of her driving habits??

Wednesday we left for Carlsbad Caverns. It was a brisk 41 degrees when we left the hotel and it didn’t get much warmer than that all day, so we practically ran into the cavern just to get somewhere warmer. We opted to take the scenic walk into the cavern instead of taking the elevator straight down, and it was absolutely amazing watching this gigantic system of rooms open up before us. It turns out that the caverns are something that you need to enjoy in person. I took over 200 pictures but couldn’t figure out the correct orientation of a third of them after looking at them on my computer. The lighting is also terrible for taking a picture of an entire room, but the sights are incredible in person. Despite these obstacles, here are just a few of the pictures that I have:

The winding path into the natural cave entrance.

Stalactites (hanging from ceiling) and stalagmites (growing from ground)!

Fortunately for us it was pretty empty that day (we even had a good 30 seconds of actual cave silence because no one else was nearby). A ranger told us that the busiest times are July 4^th and spring break, which was a couple weeks ago. The sucky thing for spring break visitors was that they were/are in the process of fixing/remodeling the large elevators, so they only have two tiny ones operating (each one can maybe fit ten people). With the huge crowds and the lack of large elevators, the ranger said that there was up to a two-hour wait to take the elevator back to the top. Jesus! Can you imagine having to sit around in a cave for two hours (after already wandering around for three) waiting in a line to see daylight again? Though, there is a gift shop, snack shack, and (surprisingly nice) bathrooms underground (which is just a very strange sight), so it’s a somewhat comfortable wait.

After that we ate a picnic lunch in the car (still too cold to picnic outside). I also caught a glimpse of my first snake on the trip… before accidentally driving over it… in a national park. Some biologist I am! It wasn’t long until we hit the Texas border. To give you an idea of how empty New Mexico/Texas are, I was able to come to a dead stop on the highway so my mom could take a picture of the sign. That is slightly ridiculous, but also awesome because there is no one else on the road! I used to think that the 5 in central California was awesome… I now dread the thought of ever driving on it again. Something else that is driving-related and awesome is that we hit a section that had a speed limit of 80 mph. **80 mph!!!** That’s amazing, and the fastest posted speed limit I’ve ever seen (though apparently other parts of Texas have up to 85). Ironically enough I think my average speed was slower in this section than in the 70mph zones. It felt like some kind of trick so I was nervous!

Last interesting driving thing – we noticed that whenever I got close behind someone or tried to pass them they would pull off the road and into the shoulder (while still maintaining highways speeds). I’m not talking about three feet into the shoulder – these people were full on using it as another lane. And this wasn’t just one person, this was 90% of the drivers… INCLUDING big rigs. Sometimes people coming in the opposite direction would also pull over to their shoulder. The really random thing was that a couple of drivers just chose to drive on the shoulder rather than in the lane (there was one lane in each direction). We asked the guy at our hotel about all the people pulling onto the shoulder and he said that’s what they do to help you pass them – they basically clear the lane so you can go around them more easily! The same goes for people coming in the opposite direction – they just want to give you more room to pass. How awesome is that?! I guess it makes sense considering that every 5 miles there are “Drive Friendly” signs on the road. Anyways, after the guy explained everything, he asked, “don’t y’all do that in California?” to which my mom replied, “ummm, people usually speed up when you try to pass them”. I didn’t think I’d say this, especially not after only two hours, but Texas seems pretty cool.

Thursday we drove to San Antonio, Texas and went to see The Alamo! First we checked in to our hotel and from there walked about 20 feet to the river walk. The river is below street level so there were no cars – only pedestrians and boats. There were a TON of little restaurants and shops along the river, as well as a bunch of trees and ducks and stuff, so it was a beautiful (and shaded) place to wander around. We ate lunch next to the river (and had ducks poking us for food), then wandered back up to street level to get to The Alamo. It was really interesting to see where the old walls stood based on the marks in the current streets, and also the bullet holes (well, not actually bullets, but whatever those little spheres were called that they were shooting) in the walls of the old chapel. There are also parts of the original foundation that are preserved around the plaza, so there’s more to see than just the obvious Alamo chapel.

The Alamo! This was the Old Chapel.

Indication of where the original walls were.

Bullet - or whatever - holes in the side of the chapel!

After that we made our way back to the hotel where we encountered a charming gentleman and his friends. We were standing by my car in the hotel parking lot when a guy turned the corner in his truck and tried pulling into the spot next to mine. He didn’t quite make it in the first time, so he backed up and then hollered out the window, “better look out, I been drinkin’ all day!” Considering that all the signs in Texas say “Drive Friendly” and not “Drive Safely”, he was doing exactly as he was told. Thank you, sir, that *was* quite friendly of you!

Inside the hotel we feasted on a free smorgasbord. Seriously – they have happy hour where they give 3 free drinks per person per night and free “snacks”, which included salad, baked potatoes, hot dogs, chicken tenders, chili, and mac & cheese. So basically it was a free dinner and drinks. Amazing! My mom offered one of her extra drink tickets to the guys at the table next to us. The younger guy hesitated, but the older guy said “sure, we’ll take it!” Then my mom realized that he was the guy from the parking lot earlier! Apparently it made his day that he made my quote list.

Today (Friday) was pretty calm – we checked out and did the river walk one more time, then we drove to my field house in the Balcones Canyonlands Wildlife Refuge! It’s in a really nice area – lots of trees and lots of green. The house is huge, but apparently there will be up to 12 people in it this first week while everyone is getting trained. After training it will clear out a bit as each of us are assigned to one of three sites where we’ll be staying for most of the summer. After chatting with the three girls who were there when I showed up, my mom and I made our way into Austin to get some BBQ and finally check into the hotel. Tomorrow I’m driving my mom to the airport and then going back to the field house to get semi-settled before starting work on Monday!

What a fun road trip this has been!