I woke up exceptionally early, I am not sure if it is the time change, train horn or the traffic I could heard or just the time change. I stole a glance out our window and saw a chain link fence and storage facility within view. If I said I was feeling thankful it would be a lie. This is the moment during a trip when you must choose to either look at the mud or the stars. I am ashamed to say that I chose the mud and decided I would see if we could move locations.
I went in my pajamas and slippers telling myself as I walked past so many empty sites that we could for sure move. Yet, I was wrong and I walked out of the office feeling sad and defeated. Being the one who planned the trip I felt a bit of a burden when things did not go as planned. This being the first time I did not really know how to deal with it.
As I walked into Polly I wanted to cry, and I looked at Dane and shook my head no. He took me in his arms and told me it was going to be okay. Nothing could take the joy away from the trip. I am grateful that when I fall apart he is a pillar of strength. As I walked outside all of a sudden saw the most beautiful landscape on the other side of Polly. Even here where chain link fences ruled and traffic drowned out peace there was beauty, God’s masterpiece. Just like us. We are His masterpieces but sometimes we choose to look at the chain link fences in our lives instead of the mountains. How glorious it was to behold his beauty.
We drove about 20 miles to White Sands National Park that afternoon with a bag of snacks, waters and slides. If you ever visit you must have the round sleds – not the flat kind (OH and must have a flat bottom!)! As we drove into the dunes there were tons of little stopping points to get out and walk – but we kept driving. Dane was determined to go all the way to the back – which is miles and miles. Our children yelled with great anticipation to stop but we kept on. Oh how happy I am we did! We ended up at the very end of the dunes where each car gets an awesome shelter and sit on picnic tables. We hiked the dunes, sled down, made sand angels, laughed together, and enjoyed life as we sat on this big mountain of sand looking at the beautiful mountains surrounding us. There are no pictures I could ever take to explain the majestic beauty of that place.
Our night ended around the campfire with smores and sticks caught on fire as torches. Well, until a blanket caught on fire by an excited ember.
Although we did find beauty in our campsite we still decided to head to a different campsite. Alamogordo is beautiful, however with the Coronavirus there are a lot of parks that only allow residents of New Mexico to visit or hike – and in the end that was our deciding factor to head West to Las Cruces.
White Sands National Park