Stacy: Day 11 (July 30, 2015) Driving Day!
First stop: San Antonio, NM, with the Rio Grande flowing through it. Of COURSE we stopped! Need I say more?
Second: "Repaying the Debt" at the Trinity Site--where the first testing of an atomic bomb took place.
Third: Vally of Fires--an ancient volcano's flows. Beautiful!!! These flows are actually the youngest in the U.S. (excepting Hawaii and Mt. St. Helens). This volcano is no longer active. See Kim's photos!!
Fourth: Three Rivers Petroglyphs. So neat! We visited different petroglyphs the day before, but were practically rained out. It's probably for the better because w were so much closer to the glyphs at Three Rivers than we would have been at Petroglyph National Monument. It was amazing! (I've been using that word a lot this trip!) Kim took all the pictures, here.
Fifth: World's largest pistachio and tour of pistachio orchard and vineyard. That was fun. I'd never seen a pistachio tree before. We even got an explaination from the owner about when grapes are ready for picking!
Sixth: Alameda Park Zoo, the smallest zoo in the U.S., was quaint and quiet. It was a lovely little walk to stretch our legs from all the driving we'd done.
Fact: an ocelot's purr sounds like an angry growl! One of the handlers was petting him through the fence of another exhibit, and he was making some noise! He was acting just like a large housecat. :o)
Lastly: White Sands National Monument and a Full Moon [guided] Hike out on the dunes! This was a night to remember. We walked along a trail that is, right now, closed to the public for renovations. Even though the moon was hidden by some clouds that were just thick enough to fully obscure it, we were still able to hike without the assistance of any other light source. The white sands of the dunes stood out brilliantly against the night sky; the brightest of the stars complimenting the sands.
The Rangers had several small activities for us that challenged us to use our other senses since we humans aren't good at seeing at night. We felt (with our hands), smelled the night air, listened as we walked in silence for a bit, and then did the wintergreen spark test (look it up if you are unfamiliar with it).
All in all, well worth doing it if you have the opportunity!
~FIN
