After a stop at the “World’s Largest Pistachio Nut”, on the outskirts of Alamogordo, New Mexico, our road trip south from Santa Fe to parts unknown seemed complete. We’d seen the Nut and could now die. (“See Venice/rhe Nut and die?”)
The “World’s Largest Pistachio Nut” - Alamogordo, NM
I really love that “Nut” and have been obsessed with hopes of seeing it in up-close and personal after watching the very strange albeit “not without its merits” movie —“This Must Be the Place”— with Sean Penn and Frances McDormand. In a nutshell, it delivered. (If nutshells are your thing.) Nutshells aside, White Sands National Park was our true destination and we were eager to make it to the park before sunset.
A lonely cactus in the dunes
Wow! We were expecting sunshine but were blessed with something better: a cloudy day with surreal light and colors. Every camera shot captured the beauty of White Sands when not illuminated in full sunshine and the results were sublime.
Up the hill
“Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world's largest gypsum dunefield. White Sands National Park preserves a major portion of this unique dunefield, along with the plants and animals that live here.” - US National Park Service
The dunes