Whites Sands National Monument, March 6, Day 2 with Jan

   Today we started the day at one of Jan's favorite restaurants, The Shed. And, it did not disappoint. It was fabulous! All home-made breads, delicious and complex Mexican food breakfasts. I had delicious green chili with two eggs, Mark and Jan both had enchiladas. Mark's had brisket in it. We all were so full that we did not eat lunch.

Jan and Mark at The Shed

   In the afternoon, we drove to White Sands National Monument, a park Mark and I have never visited, although Jecca, Willy and David have. Jecca and Willy had jobs at Bosque del Apache when David was about 12 and he flew out there. Anyhow, we watched a good film about the park first and then drove the loop. The dunes cover an amazing 275 miles and are made of gypsum, the largest gypsum field in the world. The dunes move by feet every year. Amazingly, there is water not far underneath which accounts for the reason that the sand does not blow away. When there is rain, which is infrequent - often for years - little shrimp and frogs which have been dormant, appear - quite miraculous. The park has many little picnic areas and it was full of families having a wonderful time for the day. Jan brought two sleds and she and I took a few rides down. (Mark chose to pass because of his recent knee surgery.) It was not an easy walk up! And, because it was relatively  humid for the desert, the dunes were less slippery than usual, a relief for me as I did not really want to go whizzing down really fast! We were lucky in the weather as it was cool with nice cloud cover. (in the low 70s).

Whites Sands National Park

White Sands

There Barbara goes!

Jan and Barbara, former college roommates!

Jan going down!

Jan goes in style!

     We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant, Lorenzo's which was also very good. Our diets have definitely suffered!
     Then, we went home where we all enjoyed the finale of Downton Abbey. Sad to see it done.