White Sands, Continued

In this post, I chatted about White Sands and how beautiful it is at sunset.  And that's true.  But it is equally beautiful during the middle of the day.  It's hard to capture in pictures the size of the dunes made by the gypsum.  This one shown below was grand.  

Even more amazing was the plants.  Quick growing plants live in this area, stretching to survive over an incoming dune. In the middle of this particular photo, you can see the two plants in the middle of the frame are half covered with the sand.

As the wind moves the sand, it makes cool patterns in the sand.  I thought this one was cool.

But as the dune moves on its way, the plant has generated a vast root system which keeps the gypsum from moving with the rest of the dune.  The sand is tangled in with the roots and prevented from moving with the breeze.  That leaves these large towers throughout the park, waiting for the nest dune to pass by.

White Sands National Monument

White Sands National Monument is an amazing place in the southern part of New Mexico. Not really sand at all, the dunes are made of gypsum. The gypsum is from the nearby mountain ranges. While typically the gypsum would be dissolved by the water and eliminated via water run-off, this place is different. The water here runs into a basin where there is no outlet. Once the water seeps into the ground, the gypsum is left in crystallized form.

The dunes it forms are amazingly tall. The day we went, kids were sledding down the sides and scrambling up to the top again. We looked at the evidence showing how the dunes moved over time.

But sunset makes this place magical. The light brings out the colors of the area. People wandered among the plants snapping photos where shadows formed that previously had none. Items in silhouette were stunning against the desert sky.

300 Peaks National Park, Thailand

As I mentioned here, we went on a short boat ride to arrive at 300 Peaks National Park.  Or Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park for short.  When we arrived, there was a sandy beach and a little visitors center where you could get a bite to eat or sit in the shade.

There are many things to do here, but one of the items I recommend is to check out some of the caves nearby.  So you walk up a mountain on one of the well marked trails.

And once you've walked up, you can start to walk down into one of the large caverns.  The trail is well defined, but be careful with loose rocks as others may be walking on the trail below you.

And when you arrive, you just might see a little something like this inside.  It is huge inside of here.  And yes, that is a bunch of trees growing inside of a mountain.  Check out the people walking in the middle of the beam of light to get a better idea of the scale of this place.  I had never seen anything like it before in my life.  Our group was giddy as we walked around and checked it out.

According to what I've read, there was a service in this space which was attended by the king.  He was bit by a mosquito and died of malaria shortly after.

Four Corners Petroglyphs

I love this petroglyph that was discovered on a trip around the four corners area.  I especially love the man that is carried off by the bird.  Wonder what happened to inspire the artist with that image.

Washington DC

Like so many American kids, my first trip without my family was to Washington DC, the Nation's Capital.  Our bus ride was a long one from the Midwest... two full days.  It included a stop in some college town where we spent the night in college dormitories and, in general, got into innocent trouble.

(Of course there was the kid who also wandered away from the group, supposedly spent the night drinking, and was too late to catch his bus in the morning.  His mom was a chaperone for one of the groups and she stayed behind as the officials planned to drag the river.  I'm glad I wasn't him.  Of course, I'm glad I wasn't the mother either.)

So after a long, eventful trip out East, we were pulling into Washington DC.  Who could forget it... the freeway with 8 lanes in each direction.  Growing up where I did, most of my travel was on winding two-lane roads.  I had never seen anything like this expressway.  The leaders said that our first stop was at the Mall.

I was in the back of the bus and generally we weren't paying attention.  Some kid asked where we were going.  My friends and I said we were going shopping.

In our defense, we did come back to the bus loaded up with t-shirts, coffee cups and key chains.  The perfect holiday gifts.

Water Runoff in Alaska

This is a great picture taken in Alaska to show the difference between water generated from a glacier (on the left - filled with sand and dirt from the glacier) and the clear water generated from snow melt on the right.  In both cases, the water was sooo cold.  Like the cold when your woolen-mittens-get-wet-but-you-still-play-in-the-snow kind of cold.

Here's a picture of the silt that remains after a glacier has receded.  It's this fine sand that is carried so easily by the runoff, but you can see that much is left behind waiting for the first brave plants to seed the area.  (I learned that Fireweed usually takes this honor.)

And this picture shows how clear the water is in the lakes in Alaska.  I remember there was a bear on the lower-left side of the lake grabbing a quick drink, although I can't find him in the picture now.

It's these memories, filled with crystal clear lakes, that makes me remember how different Alaska is when compared to my experience of the lower 48 states.

Canyon Clouds

I really love the Grand Canyon and therefore I've gone far more often than the average person.  Usually Arizona is filled with sunshine.  And occasionally a cloudy day.  But every once in awhile, you'll see the clouds descend and play with the mountains (or in this case, canyon walls) making for a totally unique view.

There is something eerie about seeing nothing but a foggy mist beyond one of the canyon walls.  I have taken this photo many times.  Usually the frame is filled with layer after layer of rock and vegetation.

And this shot is one of my favorites.  While the distance is barely visible, the trail into the inner canyon is clear.  Such an unusual day at one of the world wonders.

Volcano National Park, Hawaii

These little flowers really struck me.  They are so colorful and delicate.  And yet they must be strong and forceful.  Afterall, they are able to successfully grow in lava.

These photos were taken on the Big Island of Hawaii in Volcano National Park.  This area showed how the lava flow essentially overtook a nearby town, flowed over the cliffs that existed just beyond that horizon line in the photo, and grew the island by inches at a time.

But I like thinking about how after destructive things happen, new beautiful things have a chance to grow.

Transportation in Thailand

You may remember an earlier post that talked about a trip to Thailand.  After the wedding was over we still had a couple of days to enjoy the area.  So we drove to a nearby town, about an hour away, and found a little fishing village.  This photo is of the fishermen bringing in the day's catch.  It was in the early afternoon, and the temperature was in the 80s, but it was January so wool caps and gloves were in order.

We wanted to get to a nearby park and the easiest way was by boat.  So we asked these guys to give us a ride over.  We were a large group so we split into two boats.  We were dropped off on a sandy beach with a promise they would be back a few hours later.

Part two, tomorrow.

Walking Among Giants

Recently I celebrated a big birthday. To celebrate I wanted to do something grand. I hadn't been to South America yet, and I started looking at options. I didn't want to be on a 15 day tour, where I was with the same people every day and a schedule planned months in advance. Instead I found an awesome travel group who allowed me to pick and choose a number of options (and fill the rest of my time with my own adventures).

I knew Chile was my destination but was hesitant about adding on a trip to Easter Island (or Rapa Nui) onto this trip. It was expensive, and took two days of travel to get there and back. But wow! Was it worth it! This is a photo of one of the resurrected sites on the island. Thanks to Japan for donating the money and a crane to assist in the effort.

What I love about this picture is the view of the people wandering just to the right of the status. I think this photo gives an idea of the scale of these moai. The history of the island is amazing. While sometimes you look back at a trip and think it was special, I knew this one was magical from the very start.

Crossing the Andes, Chile

Crossing the Andes via a chain of lakes was one of those items on my must do list. When I was in college, a friend had passed from Chile into Argentina using this passage -- although she was smart enough to do it in the summer.

While there are a series of ferries to cross the lakes, there are times when one must hop on a bus and cross a section of land. I crossed over in September 2011 with 15 fresh inches of snow covering the Andes. It was beautiful! And cold.

Having grown up in the midwest, I was accustomed to snow for 4 - 5 months every year. But I didn't realize that the majority of the people on my bus had never been in snow before. (!!!) So imagine my surprise when the bus stopped to put chains on the tires and the bus emptied in seconds and a huge snowball fight erupted.

See the woman in the tan jacket in the upper right corner of the photo? She must have been in her 70s. But she was a ferocious snowball fighter. That large chunk of snow did not stay in her hands for long. After 10-15 minutes, everyone was back on the bus filling the air with the scent of wet wool and we carried on to the next lake in the chain.