3/6 thurs

Well we left the last place in the blog, think it was valley of fire recreation (not reception) as I said and we drove to carlsbad.  Leroy went to the cave one day and I stayed home.   Caves are not my thing.   He was very impressed tho and I would have gone with him the next day but a weather front was coming in so we left on mon am.  We went from there to Alamogordo and spent a couple daysl. We went to the space museum which was very interesting, even to me.  Ex talked with a docent for a long time and I learned a lot.  We went the next day to the rivers petroglyphs.  It is an area of the  ancient Indian civilization that is now extinct.   Probably due to the spanards who came thru and whipped out almost all of have indigenous cultures of the southwest.  I don't think from what I read they were a very nice people.  The petroglyphs were interesting and I took lots of pictures.  Most of them  are designs we use in quilting.  I took lots of pictures for reference.   Got lots of ideas for you Donna.  It was just amazing to me to see where some of the southwestern geometric designs came from, tho they are probably even older than that.   This was about 1200-1400.    We also drove up to  sunspot which is a solar observatory  it other than the drive which was in the mts to about 10,000 feet there wasn't much to see or do there.  No tours just figure it out yourself and read the signs, which I can tell you were way above my head.
We hiked trails there in Alamogordo, I always make sure I get lots of that in every day.  I love hiking and climbing around in the rocks. Almost as much as walking on the beaches.  But of course I love very trail or walk I do it seems.  I find something beautiful and interesting every where. I love movement and exercise and the release of all the endorphins.  It really keeps me sane.  Anyhow we liked Alamogordo as it was just a comfortable town.
This am we left there and went to the White Sands Monument.  Spent the whole day there hiking in the sand which is firm enough on the dunes but yet as soft as talcum powder.  The beauty is hard to describe.  Shadows place an amazing part of it.  It was a good workout for us and the dogs. I couldn't get over how peaceful it was and quiet.  It was like driving around the Midwest in have winter with snow drifts and plowed snow all over, except it was sand instead.  Wierd if you have that history to refer to.
Tonight and maybe thru the weekend we will stay in las cruces and then head to Tucson to look up some friends.