Happy Belated Birthday, Kevin. (You know who you are!) It’s a big one this year and I’m not far behind you.
White Sands is a difficult place, weather-wise. Monday, we got there at 7 a.m. and the light was golden and luscious, but the wind was a bear. It hissed through the dried Yucca plants. When I knelt down to get a better photographic angle, I’d get a handful of sand in my face. So there was no hiking, but nobody would know our images were captured within 100 yards of the road. It’s so empty out there that composing pictures is wonderful. There are dunes, sky, clouds and Yucca plants. You are free to make of it what you will. We made photographs for about 2 hours, plus time out for sitting in the car and watching the dunes, snacking on our favorite cookes (Dare chocolate fudge) and coffee and listening to Sirius/XM radio. Life is good.
Yesterday, we drove the Lazy Daze to White Sands for the day. That way, we could hike in the early morning, then take showers and laze around in the hot afternoon, eat dinner early and photograph during sunset. It worked well. The wind was down, so we did the 4.5-mile Alkali Flats trail. The Alkali Flats were totally unimpressive, but the hike was great. The white sand looks so much like snow, it’s uncanny. Wind creates diverse patterns on the sand and erases most of old footprints. It’s a magical place.
