well, i am finally getting to that cross-linked post about our trip… you can read all about it here and also at his blog post about the trip and the new pics update… he posted some new pics and all about his experience with his mom being in the hospital and the trip in general…
his mother was in the hospital for almost 2 weeks… the first time in almost 30 years… the last time she was in the hospital was when she had his younger brother…
but, i am not going to be posting about that here today…
i am going to be posting about our wonderful and amazing trip to white sands…
if you have never been there, all i can say is that if you get the chance to go, then GO!!!
i can not describe it in words… i think it is easier to quote a couple things that i thought while i was there…
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“Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.”
Ricky Fitts from American Beauty
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“No – no words. No words to describe it. Poetry! They should’ve sent a poet. So beautiful. So beautiful… I had no idea.”
Ellie Arroway from Contact
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we took the dreameye with us but after we were there, we realized that we had almost filled it up… what a bummer…
but, here are a couple of pictures that we took…
i am almost always barefoot and he never goes without his shoes, so here is a shot of my foot and his boot…
it is very cool… you can even see the doc martens imprint from his boot… even though you are unable to see it in this photo, when i was walking around in some parts of the dunes, you could even see the little wrinkles from the underside of my feet… 🙂
it is one of the natural wonders of the world and even visable from space…
and of course, just like everyone that goes out there, you have to write in it… so, here we were writing in the sand…
and here are just a couple of pictures that we took while we were standing there in total amazement…
this first picture was taken from the dune that we were standing on… as you can see, there is nothing else for miles and miles around you… you are totally surrounded by a ring of mountains on every side and sheer glistening white everywhere else…
this picture was taken upon another dune that we were standing on and off in the distance you can see the mountain ranges a little better…
i really wished we had a better digital camera, because these pictures do not give it justice… everything looks so typical sand colored or blue…
while you are standing there, you realize that you are just a small speck in this vast whiteness, not like a white beach sand, this is so white it is blue…
you can see it for miles around and it shimmers like a diamond… it is gypsum…
and as the further you get in the less foliage there is… not a place that you want to get lost in… no sense of direction because everything is the same color…
i could not believe that the cost was only $3 per person… the gates close to enter at 7pm and we arrived at 6:45pm and left around 9:30pm… as we were leaving the rangers were driving around letting people know that the gates would be closing at 10pm and you were locked in for the night…
and for only $3 the passes were good for 6 days… and for a small fee of $20 a year you could get a pass to enter at anytime…
they have all kinds of nature walks and constellation tours and events…
at the front gates, there is also a sign that says “no refreshments available after this point”…
as we were driving in we saw people make snow angels in the sand…
also, as we were driving into the park, i was ready to run around… he let me know that this was just the beginning and it only got better… and boy, was he right…
we finally parked the car and started our night out with the nothingness…
we slowly climbed up one dune and then another… it was tough but the view was to die for…
as we were standing there he said to me:
“if you turn your head in just the right direction you do not hear anything, not even the wind…”
i could not believe the sheer vastness and silence…
and since it was close to the time of sunset, i made a voice note on my phone…
here is the transcription…
“during the sunset the sunrays are trickling down the mountains like waterfalls… it is beautiful… the dunes are purple… it is not white but rather blue white sand and there is nothing else to see for miles…”
the vast array of colors at sunset… you could see nothing but white dunes for miles and miles around you…
i do not think that i can say it enough… this is the most beautiful place in the world…
i also thought that if i was into cremation then i would want my ashes scattered here…
i also thought that it would be the most beautiful place to get married… since white is a symbol of purity, i think it would be even more appropriate…
but one of the coolest things that happened while we were there was this…
we were standing atop this huge sand dune and you could barely hear voices down behind us… we did not pay any attention because we were just there being in love…
we were just standing there and he had his arms around my waist and i was just leaning up against him… (one of my favorite places to be, in his arms)… 😉
but, as the voices got closer and closer we decided that we would turn around and look… we were surprised to notice there was this couple and they had a camera with them and were taking pictures of the landscape and the skies…
so, there we were… on top of this huge sand dune with the sun setting in front of us and we were mere silhouettes with these amazing surroundings…
so, when they finally had made it up the dunes, we decided that we had to talk to them…
they were a really sweet couple and said that they hated to ruin “our romantic moment”, but we felt they did not… they had captured our moment and we wanted to see if they would be willing to sell us that photo that they had taken of us while we were standing there…
they also mentioned that we had known the perfect place and we had to have been there before… but we had not… he had not been there since he was a kid and this was my first time… but, i do not think there IS a bad place here…
the gentleman spoke up and said that he had gotten it on video but not an actual photo…
that is ok… if he had the opportunity to send us just a clip then we would find a way to get it into picture format somehow…
it was perfect… the day was just getting better and better with each passing moment…
someone had captured the moment that we had so much wanted to have…
they eventually walked back to their car and we have not heard from them yet… we are still hoping that we do…
as the night progressed and the sun started to set, we could see lightening storms…
the scenery was constantly changing colors and you could see the lightening and rain clouds off in the distance…
then, night began to fall and it was getting chilly and we had forgotten to grab our drink from the car…
so, we decided to walk back down and get our drink…
the sun had set and it was time for the sky to make beautiful light with all the stars…
i do not think that i have seen so many stars in all my life… you could look up and even see the milky way… it looked like a little grey streak that ran across the sky…
you could see our galaxy!!! talk about amazing… i am overwhelmed…
well, it was getting late and we were thirsty and our drinks had run dry… so, at around 9:30pm, we decided that we WILL be going here again and decided to head back to his parents place…
but (like i think everyone does), we had to grab a scoop of that sand… this is something that is prohibited, but you just have to do it…
and, as a last image for my post, here is me, standing on top of the dune that we spent all of our time and the place where that couple had taken our picture…
i still and do not see any reason why i might not think that this is “the most beautiful and peaceful place that i have ever been and think i will ever go…”
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and again, be sure to read his blog post about the trip and see all the new pics…
i only wrote about our couple hours out at white sands..
he had been down at his parents place for a week already and i was there for almost a week as well…
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amazing!!!
undescribable!!!
leaves you breathless!!!