A trip to the big sandbox

One of the nice things about living in El Paso is the close (and by close I mean an hour and a half drive) proximity to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico; my brother was pretty excited about crossing another state off of his list of places to visit plus he was curious to see what White Sands was all about.

We packed up the sled, a bucket and shovels, and one of Sammy's toy bulldozers and headed on our way.  The drive was pretty uneventful and we were soon making our way to the dunes of pristine white sand; since it was a weekday, there weren't a lot of people around, which meant we pretty much had the run of the place.

Sammy's second trip to White Sands was way more subdued than our previous trip in December; rather than run around like a crazy kid, he was very content to sit and play in the sand, filling up his bucket and his bulldozer while pausing every now and then to watch his uncle sled down the dunes.

The sand wasn't as wet this time so the sledding wasn't as fast, but that didn't seem to deter my brother from having a blast.  The three of us spent about an hour playing in the sand and then it was time to hit the road again after a brief stop in Alamogordo for lunch.  Next stop on our road trip: the Oliver Lee  State Park--the fun never stops around here!