What a Wonderful World (An #AtoZChallenge Post): W is for White Sands National Park

A sign near the visitor's center parking lot says "White Sands National Park"

My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our travels--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: White Sands National Park in New Mexico.

White Sands National Park is aptly named. We took the mile-long Dune Life Nature Trail to learn more about the flora and fauna of the area, and were rewarded with finding several animal tracks in the sand.

Lines of little tracks from some unknown animal decorate the sand

While the sand dunes seem inhospitable to life, some trees defy the odds and somehow manage to find enough moisture to live.

A lone tree, with roots visible above the sand, grows in the white sand

The sand even covers the road, as this sign so helpfully tells visitors:

a sign at the side of a sandy road states, "You are now Driving on Sand"

We decided to try out the most popular activity at White Sands National Park: sledding down the dunes. The visitor's center offers sled rentals. We picked up a sled and headed to the sledding area. The video below shows my husband demonstrating how sledding should be done:

And here I am keeping things real, somersaulting off my sled at the bottom of the hill:

I head-over-heels recommend visiting White Sands National Park!

Come back tomorrow to see where in the world we'll visit next!

Ten Things of Thankful: 39 Years Edition

A political map of the world circa 1987. The Soviet Union takes up a sizable portion. A lot has happened in the last 39 years. The Berlin Wall came down. The Soviet Union collapsed. The Twin Towers fell. Technology has changed: landlines and phone booths are practically extinct, and random questions can be answered in seconds by asking Google, Siri, or Alexa. No longer do drivers keep the Thomas Guide in their cars; navigation systems will give turn-by-turn directions, and recalculate when the driver doesn't follow the directions. Some cars don't even need drivers. While many shoppers do their shopping in-person, some simply log into Amazon and have their item show up on their doorstep--sometimes within hours. I've seen pieces of the Berlin Wall. I've traveled to places that used to be behind the Iron Curtain. I've been to Ground Zero. I no longer have a house phone, and have looked up the answers to countless questions using my cell phone. I do not miss the stress...

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Thankful Me

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