Sorry About The Delay.......

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Connected to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, GMNP is different from CCNP in that it is a trail hiking only national park. There is only a visitor center, and trails. We did check out the visitor center a talked to a Ranger for awhile. She mentioned that we could exit the park, drive south for about ten miles, and check out the view of El Capitan and Guadalupe Mountain from a rest area on the road.
We took her advice and were treated to one of the most spectacular views we have seen so far on this trip. El Capitan (on the left) is something like 8500 ft above sea level, and Guadalupe Peak, (to the right), is like 8749 ft. Sitting at a picnic table was great except for the wind.
Wind? Yes, this part of the trip has been very windy. It shakes the trailer at night. It kills the gas mileage. It's even hard on the ears when standing out in the open at a place like this. The Weather Channel app says winds at 27 MPH. I call bullshit. 
This wind we have been experiencing reminded us both of the time we took a tenting trip back in the 70's and I ended up staying up all night trying to keep the tent from blowing away that night. I sleep OK knowing the 14,000 lb trailer will NOT blow over.

Pay no attention to the radio antenna.

I went looking for the gold.......

El Capitan. Pictures do not do it justice.

Guadalupe Mountain

El Catitan in the background, Guadalupe in the foreground.

 Los Cruses, New Mexico

Our Goddaughter Kym and her family made this their home when hubby Chuck was transferred here about six years ago for his work. We can see why they never looked back. A beautiful city with great people and great weather, (and wind). 
We only planned a couple days here, but could have stayed a few months. 
Our first day in town was a work day, and Kym and Tim met us in the afternoon at a small town called La Mesilla. It is the oldest town in New Mexico and is a great place to visit for history and shopping. Chucks son Tim convinced me I had to go visit the 'Chocolate Lady' to "see" the great candy made here. Fifty dollars later, (not really, but it was fun joking about it), we left the candy shop. 
We made reservations at the hottest restaurant in town, 'El Posto'. The building was a stop on the Pony Express and then turned into a post office, (el posto). The restaurant has been in business 70 years, and was a very enjoyable experience. Much of the enjoyment came from spending time with Kym, Chuck, Max, Hannah, and Tim. I was beaming with pride that my Goddaughter had a such a great family, yes, even Max. 
The next day, Kym took us to White Sands National Monument. I was ready to be not impressed. I mean after all, we have Sleeping Bear!!
As we approached the location, we could see the white sand peeking out from beneath the scrub. Big deal, I thought. We went to the visitor center as we always do. (Restrooms. We're old). Once we got back on the trail back into the park, I began to realize I underestimated this National Monument. The sand is snow white and very blinding. (Actually not sand, it's gypsum). The 'park' has to plow the roads almost every day to keep them open. The winds are strong and constant. They rent 'saucer' sleds here so people can slide down these dunes. Just like Sleeping Bear, one side of the dune is hard packed, while the other side is wind blown and soft. The dune was a challenge enough that I only had to go up one.
This park has quite a few areas to park and spend whatever time it is you want to stay and picnic or whatever. They have several covered shelters at these spots with picnic tables. What's unique about these shelters is that they are not permanent and the maintenance crew can move them or spin them to accommodate the prevailing wind conditions. Very cool.
One of the more interesting points of this trip was seeing all the warning signs on the way in. This area is still an active MISSILE testing site. They close down the park AND the roads around the area if there are are plans for missile tests. 
By the way; did I mention the wind?

Welcome to "The Land of Enchantment" and double fines for speeding

Yep. Billy The Kid has a gift shop......

The 'Chocolate Lady'. Very good candy.

Dinner time with Kym and Tim

Bump and G'ma

One of the shops in the square

Nuff said

Great place to eat...

These signs are everywhere. Interesting history lessons.

White Sands

One of the displays at the visitor center

Yep. I real Road Runner. Did not go 'meep meep' as it ran away.

I'm the king of the mountain!

Like I said, these are everywhere

Shaded, movable picnic areas

DUCK!!!

We bid adieu the Kym, Chuck and her family the next day and headed for Tucson. The next post will be about all the great things we did in Tucson.

P.S. The trip has introduced two new cliches to our daily conversation: (1) "Time to move the house!!" (2) "On the road again....." We have been having a blast.