Day Seven: New Mexico

We woke up cold and not very well rested but in good spirits and awake. We packed up the tent as quick as we could, though not quite as fast as we used to be when we were in New Zealand, I guess that means that we haven't been using it enough. :) Our neighbors were up and trying to stay warm around a tiny fire, unsuccessfully. We walked over to say hi, they were from Georgia and were on a road trip for spring break. there were four of them and were just as disappointed in Roswell as we were, they said they were expecting a small town also and that after exploring the area the previous day found nothing worth going to, so we figured it wasn't worth spending out time looking. We helped them take down their tent, they were all very impressed with the speed we had put up and taken down our tent, theirs was a bit harder, much larger and the wind had picked up so it was like a sail but we managed. We said our goodbyes and headed into town. We tried to get some salt water from the pet store for the fishies (their water level is getting a little low) but they didn't have any left. Then we went to the International House Of Pancakes for breakfast which was very good, Nick may have put himself into a slight food coma but he did come back to us.
Off to the highway again. We drove on a southern route towards Tuscon, AZ, We stopped at White Sands National Monument to check it out and ended up staying there all afternoon. It was one of the most spectacular places that I have ever been to. There is a huge area that is nothing but white sand dunes. We spent hours playing on them and taking photos. They are made of gypsum which erodes from the surrounding mountains and the wind blows it around and it all collects in this one area. It was a little like playing in the snow but it was warm! I would definitely like to go back there again some day. We took off our shoes and ran up the dunes and spent time running and jumping off the steep side of the dunes and exploring. It was neat once you got out in the dunes a little ways because you couldn't see any civilization; no roads, no cars, no houses, no people, just white sand for as far as you could see. When our feet finally got too cold we made out way back to the car and continued driving, we drove through the evening and into the night a little bit and then stopped just short of the AZ boarder. We didn't want to miss too much of the landscape by driving at night.  We were getting tired anyway so it seemed like a good time to stop. All in all a very satisfying and happy day in the desert.