Day 14 (Wednesday, July 8th) White Sands, NM

Today we visited the White Sands Missle Range Museum and Missle Park and the White Sands National Monument. Both are in an immense valley that is controlled by the military. They can close roads or the entire National Monument to launch missiles. Luckily they only had things closed in the early morning, so we weren't inconvenienced.

We started at the Missile Range Museum and Missile Park. We had to go through a check-point to enter the base, but the museum is close to the gate, so we walked. The museum is full of information about early missile programs, the early nuclear program and the early space program. The boys were entertained by displays and videos in the museum and got a big kick out of the missles in the missle park. There were about 50 missles or missle systems on display outside the museum. The kids loved being able to walk right up to them and touch them.

Then we drove the rest of the way to the White Sands National Monuement. We rented a sledding saucer for the boys to play with on the dunes and then drove out into the heart of the dune field. The sand is from gypsum stones and is very fine, like talcum powder. We walked out onto the dunes and the boys immediately wanted to find the biggest, steepest one to sled down. We had been told that the steepest dunes were at the back of the park so that's where we started. The boys raced to the top of the dunes and weren't shy at all about launching themselves down the steep slopes. (video attached) There was a big storm along the edge of the valley that threatened our afternoon but it never seemed to make it into the park. We got a guided "sunset tour" of the dunes that explained some of the dune features and characteristics.

It was a full day but a very satisfying day. It ended with a stop at Sonic for dinner and an "puppy cone" for Holly who accompanied us throughout the day.