Every year, the last Thursday in November is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. This is the equivalent of a UK bank holiday and although it is widely claimed to be a celebration of the anniversary of the arrival of the pilgrim fathers onto the shores of America, it actually has its roots in various harvest festivals around the world and became associated with the arrival of settlers because of their observance of the traditions and rituals they brought with them. Suffice to say, it is a pretty big deal over there. Most of the country closes down and everyone makes a huge effort to get together with their families for a huge slap up feast to ‘give thanks’ for the successful harvest or safe delivery of their ancestors to the new world, depending on which version you believe. I suspect the Native Americans might see the latter interpretation a little differently and possibly don’t make the same effort to mark the occasion but no-one seems to really care how they feel about it.
Anyway, on this particular Thursday my colleagues and I we were halfway through the long haul from Houston to Phoenix and a driver rest day was called at the legendary border town of El Paso. We had 24 hours to kill on the day when most of the USA was going to be closed. Most of the entourage planned to walk across the bridge to Mexico and spend the day getting obliterated but I had other ideas. I’d studied a map and I’d also discovered that Budget Car Rental had an office open at El Paso airport on Thanksgiving Day. I fancied taking part in what Americans call a road trip and I made a plan to take highway 54 north into New Mexico toward the city of Alamogordo before breaking left onto highway 70 (The Atomic Highway) past Holloman Air Force Base and on to the White Sands National Monument.
Rather than being some sombre statue, as the word monument would seem to imply, the White Sands National Monument is actually the world’s largest Gypsum dune field. Which means, in real terms, that it is a huge area of snow white sand dunes. A white desert in fact, and reputedly very beautiful and spectacular. The surrounding area has a reputation of its own too, as it is the birthplace of the atomic age. Los Alamos, location of the laboratory complex where development of the Manhattan Project took place, is just to the north and the Trinity site, where the first test of a nuclear device occurred is also close by. In fact, most of the area on both sides of highway 70 is taken up with the huge White Sands Missile Range, a vital test site for the US military. So, even though the Missile Museum and most of the town of Alamogordo would be closed due to Thanksgiving (which also meant that there would be no aircraft watching opportunities) the region would seem to be worth a look.
We arrived around noon and it was a surprise to find the gift shop open, we had also seen freight trains running and a manned border patrol checkpoint on the journey up so all the talk of the country shutting down for Thanksgiving would seem to have been a trifle exaggerated. The visitors guide to White Sands states that there are 8 miles of roads through the dunes so we would be able to get right into the heart of it without hours of hiking, which was a relief. It takes the first couple of these miles for the low grass and sage bushes to gradually disappear but we were soon out of the car and exploring on foot and it doesn’t take long before the road is out of sight and you find yourself surrounded by the peaks and troughs of the dunes. As far as you can see in every direction the ground rises and falls forming hidden dips and valleys and the occasional flat bottomed bowl in the sand. The gradual but constant movement caused by the wind leaves delicate ripples on the surface of the dunes and with the sun shining down (for now…) from a big ‘ole sky it all makes for a breathtaking spectacle.
We spend a couple of hours wandering around until an ominous greyness starts to approach from the distant mountains. It suddenly feels like rain and with the clouds moving with surprising speed we can feel the first drops beginning to fall as we reach the safety of the car. A few minutes later we are caught in a proper desert downpour. However, being English we can handle of spot of rain and decide to take a drive around the area in search of lunch and wait for a break in the weather. The UFO fans among us want to go as far as Roswell to eat but when we eventually find a sign it turns out to be over 100 miles away so they are soon voted down. We are somewhere north of La Luz, on our way back to Alamogordo, when I spot something straight out of my American dreams. Maybe it is too many hours spent watching road movies or maybe I just like a photo opportunity. Whichever is the case, roadside hulks of rusting classic cars cannot be ignored. The site turns out not to be a scrap yard as such, it doesn’t even seem to be a garage. If anything the handpainted sign saying ‘Country Classics’ would seem to suggest that it is a shop of some sort although it doesn’t look like one and doesn’t seem to be open which is a shame. Thanksgiving Day though isn’t it? I have to satisfy myself with a few shots of the outside before we move on.
A late lunch is served in a diner on Route 54 and as we are still in the area and the rain has stopped we decide to head back to White Sands to see if we can catch the sunset. Its getting pretty murky as we pull back into the dunes area and the edges of the clouds are beginning to be tinged with pink and the temperature is dropping too. The sun is rapidly disappearing behind the mountains off to our left. There are more clouds moving in which are gradually darkening as the light fades. From a vantage point on top of the closest high dune we can see the mountains behind us turn a deep red before shadows begin to fill their features. Ahead, the sun continues to sink and the gaps in the clouds come alive in a fiery display of yellow, orange and reds that would put the skies over Mordor to shame. Its an amazing display that constantly changes right up until the point where the darkness starts to close in properly, by which point it is getting a little too cold to hang around. Plus, the park rangers will be around soon to kick us out, and we have to be on a bus en-route to Phoenix in a few hours.
It ends up being a 250 mile round trip by the time we get back to El Paso but everyone agrees that the long drive was worth it. I’ve always liked deserts and I was now fired up for some more sandy adventures. Funnily enough there would be another one coming up a short while later but more about that another time.
Click here for more White Sands pics.