All over the place

Today mom and I took a day trip away from the hot (108 degrees) and relatively dull city of El Paso and we headed to New Mexico for a change of scenery.

First stop: White Sands Missile Range. The security here was intense. First we had to "check in" with this no-nonsense security guy. I had to bring my drivers license, proof of insurance, and the registration for the rental car. After that was done we had to get the car inspected by five more security people. We had to get out of the car, open all the doors, the hood, and the trunk, show our IDs and wait. The security guys even got out the mirror to check under the car before they let us go. After that we finally reached the museum and "missile park". The museum had some relics from the past including lots of missile parts and there was also some stuff about the shuttle landing in 1982. The missile park outside had a bunch of stuff and I'll have pictures of all that when I get home.

We then headed into the mountains where the desert turned into pine trees. We stopped at the Inn of the Mountain Gods which is a totally revamped hotel/casino/resort operated by the Mescalero Apache tribe. The place was gorgeous and to top it off, I won at the slots! I was down a few bucks when I put a $20 into the dollar Wheel of Fortune machine. If you've played this machine before you know that you must play three coins (in this case $3!) to spin the wheel. I blew through three dollars in a second, but on the next play I got a spin! I spun and was very happy when it stopped on 100! So I collected my $117 and left. In the end I was up about $75 for the hour I was there... not bad!

Next was Ruidoso, a "village" 6900 feet in the mountains which wasn't terribly exciting. We drove around, ate lunch and ice cream (yum), and then we went up to Sierra Blanca, a mountain about 10,000 feet tall. The drive to the top was a little scary in our Trailblazer and when we got there the ski lift to the top was closed. On the way down we did stop at a nice vista point at 9900 feet where I took some pictures.

We then drove back down to the desert where we made our way to White Sands National Monument. If you're ever in El Paso, Las Cruces, or even Albuquerque then you MUST see this amazing place. Imagine endless dunes of soft white gypsum and that's white sands. We took a "sunset stroll" with a geologist (who couldn't have been any older than me) where we learned about the dunes and then the best part -- sunset. I have to say, I took some AWESOME photos, and I can't wait to share them.

Then it was a long drive back to our hotel. Tomorrow's our last day here before heading home to California. I have to finish teaching my grandmother how to use the Mac Mini and also need to sort out some e-mail issues with her ISP.