H.I. Express Alamogordo

... case find one shoe<br>and borrow Alison's tiny shoe and hobble over... what a picture, it<br>gave us a giggle.<br><br>Back on the bus, it had just turned<br>midnight and virtually 2 bottles of mixer and 1/3 bottle of he rather<br>large bottle of Vodka was now gone... Michelle quite relieved she had<br>virtually none of the vodka. Feeling rather hungry at this point,<br>Michelle decided to get some kip and hopefully try and forget about<br>food. Dean and a few others continued longer<br>

... Junior Ranger packet. <br><br>We ate a Golden Corral. At 7pm, we went on a sunset stroll with Ranger Mike. He had me answer some of the questions, because he knew that I would get the answers right. We saw footprints from animals. Some I could identify, but some I couldn't. <br><br>We drove home with the top down and it started to rain. Mamaw didn't want to put the top up!

We drove down to the White Sands National Park, which is miles of pure white sand dunes. It is really hot and blinding white, and so its quite hard to take photos and not squint when smiling! <br><br>We have now driven up to Albuquerque and will explore tomorrow. <br><br>PS we are still picking good motels, one night we were kept ...

Surprise Mogollon Petroglyphs... I stumbled upon these in an area called Three Rivers in Eastern New Mexico. The red petroglyphs were in Gila National Park near the cliff dwellings.<br><br>More on my trip website

... find. I have lots more pictures uploaded if anyone is interested in seeing them. Just let know because I have to "invite" you to the site. You may have to open an account, but it's free. ( Also a good place to upload and order prints and other stuff.)

... as the VLA is probably one of the most incredible pieces of technology that I've ever stood witness to.<br><br>In a stretch of desert farther than they eye can see, and flatter than you thought possible on a round rock, lies a massive array of 200 ton satellites that take composite images of the farthest reaches of space. It's pretty awe inspiring to be ...

... in the desert. But my adventurous spirit wouldn't let me turn away. So I began my hike with my trusty tour guides (little white stick people with hiking packs on various poles pointing through the desert). For reasons you'll see in my pictures, I soon lost faith in them and thought it best to turn back. When I got back in the evening the hostel owner was hanging around. I was the only one staying in the hostel, so he asked me if I wanted to go up ...

... it. Next stop was the Museum of Space History in Alamogordo. Outside was the Astronaut Memorial Garden dedicated to the Challenger 7 and the John P. Strapp Air and Space Park. On display in the Park was a F1 rocket engine (main engine used on the first stage of the Saturn 5) and sonic rocket sled...very cool. The museum is arranged for the visitors to start on the top (4th) floor and work your way down the building. On ...

... inn! It seems that this weekend 4000+ people descend on this town to commemorate the death march of Bataan (Philippines, WW2) with an annual march and marathon. This highway was dedicated as a memorial highway in honor of the soldiers who had served in this battle. As a result we traveled on to Alamogordo for the night, through the White Sands Missile testing range, and will backtrack in the morning to visit the White Sands National Monument..

... 8:00 without problem. Tent is now pitched and we are re-packing the car as things have gotten jostled the last couple of days and it's in a bit of disarray. Downloading photos to the computer as I type - over 5 GB of photos so far. Did anyone expect any less? Don't think we'll be going through them tonight, although every ounce of us want to. It's getting late and we need to get ice for the cooler and hit the sack for the night. Early day tomorrow. Going back into White ...