Walking On The Moon...aka White Sands National Monument

“This is what it feels like to walk on the moon” is exactly how we felt when we visited White Sands National Monument in New Mexico! From the moment we drove into this amazing environment fit for a sci-fi film, we couldn’t believe our eyes! The drive alone through the park was stunning with its roads painted with white sand and when you get out of the car…well, the environment almost blinds you. The white gypsum sand radiates so much light that we learned quickly the importance of wearing sunglasses and wearing layers because the sand was cold to the touch but the sun was strong enough to keep the environment warm. So I wore a cozy cardigan from Anthropologie over a simple white tank from Target and my current go-to jeans from Citizens of Humanity. I had this crazy desire to blend in with the White Sands environment, so I kept my outfit color scheme neutral. Now our exploration of the park that day involved just a brief hike before heading that evening to our backcountry campsite. Since this was our first time there, we just wanted to take it all in…the gorgeous views of the rolling hills of sand and the physical experience of walking through such a unique landscape. It fascinated us that when we were walking on sand like this, we often relied on our previous experience with beach sand to determine how to walk on it which we learned was not always accurate. Sometimes the sand was so hard that you could just easily stand right on top of it…but in other times, it just sank below your feet which made me quite grateful to be wearing my boots from Sorel because they definitely made it easier for me to walk on this unpredictable land. In fact, it all really reminded us of snow banks, so much that we often called it that by accident which might also be because we saw so many people sledding amongst the dunes. We definitely have to try that next time! Now as the end of the day was near, we reminded ourselves that the park rangers told us that we had to be at our campsite by 5 p.m…and since there was a significant hike to the campsite, we went back to the car and got our gear together. Stay tuned for the next post which is all about our overnight stay at White Sands…all I have to say is that the camping experience was the first time we have ever felt that isolated!