I’ve always wanted to visit White Sands National Park but it’s always been just slightly too far from wherever we were coming from.  However on THIS trip, it’s literally along the drive home so we pretty much had to stop and explore! As usual we got there right as they opened.  White Sands actually got quite a bit of snow from the storm we drove down here to avoid.  It was cool to see the dunes coated in bright white snow, however because the snow was so white it just made the sand look like normal sand color.  I feel like the sand usually looks bright white under the desert sun. So while it was neat to see, I think we’re going to have to plan a second trip down here to see the sand dunes in their normal state!

We did a short hike at the first little pull off of the main road.  By the time we got back they had finally plowed and opened up the main road to the rest of the park. (Otherwise we were going to get to see a scant half mile of the park!). This was a pretty neat place and I’d love to come back again someday and explore a little more! But, we’re driving home now so it was time to hit the road.  No road trip is complete without an obligatory stop at some random roadside bullshit and that was going to be Pistachio Land! I expected this to be terrible but it was actually a really nice and clean roadside attraction.  All the souvenirs were pistachio related and it wasn’t just full of mass produced plastic crap.  They also had homemade ice cream and waffle cones but given the layer of snow, we didn’t partake.