 Previous Day |
Ruidoso Downs, NM → Mountainair, NM → El Paso, TX 378.0 mi (608.3 km) |
 More 2018 Adventures |
I awoke to a brainstorm in the midst of a rainstorm! I had until 6:00 PM to get from Ruidoso Downs back to El Paso, and the only site that was definitely on my itinerary was White Sands National Monument, about an hour away. Would I, could I, fit in another park en route? Did I have time to visit the Gila Cliff Dwellings three hours away? Would I be able to actually enjoy the parks without rushing through? The answer came in the form of a beautiful rainbow!
Following the rainbow, through the driving rain, I headed north through the vast open grasslands of central New Mexico, through a rundown town with a memorable name (CLAUNCH!) until I arrived at the entrance to the Gran Quivira ruins, part of Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument!
 |
Well before California’s 21 Missions got started, Spanish missionaries were setting up outposts across New Mexico, converting and subduing the native tribes while the military quested for the fabled seven cities of Cibola! As in California, these missionaries were of the Franciscan order. The first to arrive at Gran Quivira was Don Antonio de Espejo in 1583. He quickly set to work subduing the Tompiro and Tiwa tribes.
 |
 |
The ruins at Gran Quivira are a mix of the original Native American structures and the two churches built by the missionaries. Preserved are some ancestral kivas, where many of the native people practiced their ancestral rituals underground and out of sight of the the stern priests!
 |
 |
An icy north wind kept blasting these old ruins and battering this poor beaver. It took everything I knew about photography in the wind just to stay up for the photos! I hurried to find shelter in the mighty walls of San Buenaventura Church, half built to completion in 1659, over a hundred years before California had a Mission San Buenaventura of its own! Though it was built to be a spiritual refuge of sorts, it offered me no refuge at all from the blasted wind! It was hard not to hear it whisper about the cursed treasure once rumored to lay beneath the mission floors…
 |
 |
I continued a little further north to the ruin of Quarai, where the clouds cleared ever so slightly, the wind settled just enough, and the remains of Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Quarai still stood in historic splendor! This is the smallest of the three sites in Salinas Pueblo, but at one time, it was once a thriving city! It only took 80 years for a combination of disease, drought, and Apache attacks to reduce Quarai to a mere echo of its former self.
 |
 |
Feeling well blasted by the wind and ever vigilant of the time until my flight, I returned southward, sadly without seeing the third site at Abó. My destination after this somber historic site was a place so dedicated to frolic that the visitor center rents out disc sleds! That place, of course, was White Sands National Monument!
 |
Piled up along the Tularosa Mountains, the world’s largest (275 square miles) gypsum dune field shines like a giant mirror in the desert. It was formed when years of rain dissolved gypsum in the mountains and washed it down into the Tularosa Basin, forming Lake Lucero. As the lake water evaporated, it left behind brittle crystals like desert rose and selenite. Many of these crystals broke into sand, which, whipped by the New Mexican wind, created massive dunes that are very accessible to visitors!
 |
So right away, I set out to frolic. I didn’t have a whole lot of time with my flight getting closer and closer, but I was going to make the most of it! The dunes were surprisingly solid underfoot, maybe because of the rain last night, but it made a sturdy platform for the hearty yuccas that somehow thrive in this sea of sand.
 |
The winds from the north certainly hadn’t settled here in the south, and this time, the gusts carried millions of stinging sand grains that stung my skin and dug into the crevices of my camera. It was not ideal, but I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to frolic in such an unforgettable setting!
 |
 |
The tops of the dunes were hard, but the slopes were silky smooth! The wind was rough, but it meant I had a whole valley between the dunes to myself! I clambered up and let loose, sliding, careening, and launching into the air! It was like skiing on butter! On powdered sugar! On a whole bakery of deliciousness (though enough of it blew into my mouth to know it didn’t taste too great)!
|
|
Now covered in sand from top to bottom, the time had come for me to conclude my frolic. My flight was two hours away, and I had about an hour and a half to get to El Paso. We don’t always get as much time as we’d hoped, but what matters is making the most of the little bits we get!
Gone with the wind!
Previous Day |
Total Ground Covered: 797.1 mi (1,282.9 km) |
More 2018 Adventures |