White Sands, New Mexico

On the way home from visiting my parents this year, we stopped at White Sands, New Mexico.  It isn't far out of the way on our trip, so I thought it would be fun to visit, and I thought the kids would really enjoy it too.  Turns out, it was a little farther out of our way than I originally thought- an hour each way, but the kids absolutely LOVED it.  When you first drive in, you are on a paved road, and then suddenly, the pavement ends and you are driving on plowed sand roads.  It looks just like snow, but it is not wet or cold.  The farther in you go, the less plants there are on the dunes and the more pristine they look.  It was beautiful.

 

 We stopped at the visitor's center where they sell plastic sleds that you can use to slide down the sand.  We found our own sand dune and tried it out.  The kids found it was fun to sled, but it isn't all that fast, but you could also run and jump down into the sand, and that is a ton of fun.  I had fun taking pics of the kids doing crazy poses on the sand. 

 

 They also found it was fun to log roll down the sand. 

 

 

Here's a video of the sledding so you can believe it actually happens.

It was well worth the extra trip, and the kids all thoroughly enjoyed it.  When we got back to the car, I made the kids each give me their shorts and I dumped cups of sand out of each one.  I still have a lot of sand in my van, but it brings back good memories.