Sunday, October 17, 2021

Land of Enchantment

New Mexico's license plate can't decide what it wants to be.


Even though Thom had no use for climbing dunes in the Sahara, I took him to see White Sands National Park.  Our route took us west of the Sacramento Mountains, through America's largest military-owned land mass with White Sands Missile Range on one side and Fort Bliss on the other.


Gypsum crystals blown by the wind created the dunes just 6,000 years ago.  In geological time, that's a snap of the finger.


Do the dunes exist  if they're not photographed?  An  existential question for our age.


Jerry wanted to know if Richard Avedon took this photo.  Hands down, that's the nicest compliment I've ever received!  Thom got a lot of mileage out of the image, too.  He certainly doesn't look as if he'd just celebrated his 63rd birthday.


But nothing can really capture the otherworldly beauty of the landscape.


Roots of a yucca plant like this one can be as long as 40 feet, so they can reach the water from beneath.


I lay in its shadow for a selfie.


Following the same route that Magda and I charted  in 2011, we stopped in Old Mesilla next at the Basilica San Albino.


I've always wanted to live in an adobe home.  A couple were beyond picturesque.   They're probably available for rent on Airbnb.


Audrey thought this was the stupidest thing when I texted it to her.


We stumbled upon the Double Eagle, a real find.


The bar, wholly a recreation of assembled parts, looked like an establishment run by the Unsinkable Molly Brown.


Thom was definitely in his happy place with afternoon chips and a  margarita.


We drove back to El Paso by way of the pecan groves, including Stahmann's, that border the Rio Grande river.


 

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