The Visitor Center of White Sands National Monument is architecture worth seeing. It was built by the WPA between 1936-1938. The short video about the monument was well worth watching. The monument is about 44 miles Northeast of Las Cruces on I-70.
This charming gate leads to a picnic area near the Visitor Center.
The "combed glass" in this lamp was made by drawing a common hair comb over the painted surface of the glass.
The ceiling in the Visitor Center is made using vigas (large logs), savinas (poles at right angles to the vigas, and cobels (decorative carved scrolls on which the vigas rest). The tin lighting fixtures can be found even in the restrooms.
The white sand is gypsum that has been eroded from the near-by mountains. It is not abrasive to touch. It feels liked powdered wall board which it almost is.
This was a photographer's paradise. Ted got a new camera and lots of "toys" for it at Christmas. We are both experimenting and learning.
Vegetation has adapted by sending down roots to the soil many feet below. This may be only to tops of very tall Yucca plants.
When the dunes move on some plants are so estabished that they hang on to the sand around their root system.
It takes 17 mph winds to get the sand moving. This is not rock. It is soft sand.
Plants provide cover for the many nocturnal animals that inhabit this environment.
The only evidence of their existence during the day is their tracks.
Another photo opt that I am sure a better photographer could improve upon.
This is the top of a cottonwood tree that survives buried in the gypsum sand. Amazing. You can imagine the size of this thing.
The interdune area provides vegetation for many animals. There is no water here. All animals must get all their water from their food.
The stark whiteness of the sand emphasizes shadows and textures.
Not Malibu. This is the top of a 60 foot dune. Near-by we saw kids using a saucer sled to enjoy the snow-like hills.
On our way back to Las Cruces we stopped at the White Sands Missile Range to see the museum. Ted trained in missiles during his army enlistment. As a measure of readiness, one of the exercises he participated in was shooting down a drone on this range. This is a V-2 that was captured from the Germans after WWII. It was the beginning of the space age in the United States.
The missile in the center of this photo was the one that Ted worked on when he was in the army.
What a beautiful end to a fun day.
Basilica San Albino Church in on the Mesilla Historic Plaza in Las Cruces. The old statehouse sits on a corner of this plaza. It was where Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to hang. He would have seen the original adobe version of this church.
The Visitor Center of White Sands National Monument is architecture worth seeing. It was built by the WPA between 1936-1938. The short video about the monument was well worth watching. The monument is about 44 miles Northeast of Las Cruces on I-70.
This charming gate leads to a picnic area near the Visitor Center.
The "combed glass" in this lamp was made by drawing a common hair comb over the painted surface of the glass.
The ceiling in the Visitor Center is made using vigas (large logs), savinas (poles at right angles to the vigas, and cobels (decorative carved scrolls on which the vigas rest). The tin lighting fixtures can be found even in the restrooms.
The white sand is gypsum that has been eroded from the near-by mountains. It is not abrasive to touch. It feels liked powdered wall board which it almost is.
This was a photographer's paradise. Ted got a new camera and lots of "toys" for it at Christmas. We are both experimenting and learning.
Vegetation has adapted by sending down roots to the soil many feet below. This may be only to tops of very tall Yucca plants.
When the dunes move on some plants are so estabished that they hang on to the sand around their root system.
It takes 17 mph winds to get the sand moving. This is not rock. It is soft sand.
Plants provide cover for the many nocturnal animals that inhabit this environment.
The only evidence of their existence during the day is their tracks.
Another photo opt that I am sure a better photographer could improve upon.
This is the top of a cottonwood tree that survives buried in the gypsum sand. Amazing. You can imagine the size of this thing.
The interdune area provides vegetation for many animals. There is no water here. All animals must get all their water from their food.
The stark whiteness of the sand emphasizes shadows and textures.
Not Malibu. This is the top of a 60 foot dune. Near-by we saw kids using a saucer sled to enjoy the snow-like hills.
On our way back to Las Cruces we stopped at the White Sands Missile Range to see the museum. Ted trained in missiles during his army enlistment. As a measure of readiness, one of the exercises he participated in was shooting down a drone on this range. This is a V-2 that was captured from the Germans after WWII. It was the beginning of the space age in the United States.
The missile in the center of this photo was the one that Ted worked on when he was in the army.
What a beautiful end to a fun day.
Basilica San Albino Church in on the Mesilla Historic Plaza in Las Cruces. The old statehouse sits on a corner of this plaza. It was where Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to hang. He would have seen the original adobe version of this church.
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