Alamogordo

  Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States
Monday, October 6, 2008

Yesterday it rained. How dare it! That was the third time in 5 weeks that we have had to suffer rain. Shocking stuff! Actually, it was very strange for the landscape to be draped in dreary grey and for our mountain views to be obscured by clouds. Luckily, it doesn't last long. By the time we had driven from Roswell, past the ski resorts and such delights as the "Inn of the Mountain Gods Hotel and Casino" run by American Indians, to Alamogordo and checked into a motel, things were starting to clear up.

Very white, White Sands

Silly sand shadows

The group, discussing desert trees

So, at the end of the afternoon, we headed back out in the car again and make our way a little further along the road to White Sands National Monument.


At White Sands, we joined a guided ranger tour and spent an hour strolling ("hiking"?) around and over some of the bleached-white, gypsum sand dunes. She (yes, another bubbly, enthusiastic tree-hugger) explained how the vast expanse of dunes were formed - long story involving dissolved limestone from the surrounding mountains and various stages of crystalisation and erosion - and how life has adapted to the sandy landscape.

Mark filming the sunset

The sands growing dark as the sun sets

We were taken to see different sorts of plants and shown photos of some of the wildlife - foxes and lizards and such like. And once she had finished her tales, she left us to quietly admire the sunset and watch the dunes grow dark.


This morning we headed for another part of White Sands: the White Sands Missile Range. Yes, surrounding the national park is an even greater expanse of land that is used for missile testing. It was also used for testing the world's first atomic bomb at a place now known as "Trinity Site". Sadly - or happily, depending on how glowing with radiation the area still is - we missed our chance to visit the Trinity Site.

Entry to the White Sands Missile Range

It is open just two days a year and one of those opportunities was the day before yesterday. Anyway, we could still get a good idea of the terrifying might of the US military by visiting the Missile Range. 40 miles across and 100 miles from top to bottom, this test site is still used by the US army, navy and airforce today - as well as NASA and other agencies. The road through it, the main artery between Alamogordo and Las Cruces (two major-ish towns in the state) is closed for an hour every now and then because missiles are going to soar over it. In case you have a real interest in all things destructive, you can visit the museum and neighbouring "missile park". This park is basically just a field with a whole lot of missiles in it of all shapes and sizes. Pride of place, in a special building to protect it from the erosive forces of White Sands, is a V-2 missile, the kind that were used by the Nazis during WWII to bomb London and Antwerp and were later confiscated by the Americans and used as the basis for building their own missile programme. In truth, the whole missile range exhibit area is a rather disturbing place.