Day 25: Hiking in a Snowy Wasteland (1/30/22)

 This morning we all went to Heart for the World Church in Las Cruces—spirited worship and a thought-provoking and moving message on the book of Daniel. After church we met new friends—another retired couple, John (rocket scientist) and Sharon (school administrator), who have moved here from Wisconsin—and all returned to Don and Jean’s for a delicious pasta lunch. Meeting old and new friends is one of the best parts of this trip.

Though a Sunday nap would have been pleasant, we decided that White Sands National Park was too important to pass up, so we bundled into the car and drove almost an hour to the park. It’s the largest area of gypsum dunes in the world and can be seen from outer space. To us, it looked like we were back in sub-zero Minnesota:




They even use snowplows to get the gypsum off the roadways:


You must admit, it does look like Minnesota in January.

We hiked up several dunes, and Jean took this ethereal shot of Phil, Don, and me:


We returned home marveling at the diversity and wonder of creation. What a gift to be able to explore it during these weeks of travel. Thank you, Don and Jean, for showing us the beauties of where you live.




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