What should have been our last “big” stop before returning to our home base in Fort Myers was an RV park in the sleepy town of Alamogordo, New Mexico. We planned this stop for the sole purpose of visiting our final national park on this trip: White Sands National Park. The description on the park’s website really does paint a true picture of this beautiful place. Its “wave-like dunes of gypsum sand” stretches over 275 miles of desert, creating the largest gypsum dune field in the world. It is definitely like no other place I’ve seen.
I was surprised to find that the snowy-white dunes have the soft texture of baby powder. When we visited Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, the sand was much coarser, making the dunes much more difficult to climb.
Although White Sand National Park was established as a national monument way back in the 30s, it was redesignated a national park just a few years ago, in 2019. It’s just a baby of a national park.
Besides the beautiful sand, the other thing I found really interesting was that over the years the reptiles in the park have changed color. As a strategy for survival in this very uniquely white sand desert, several species have color morphed over the years in order to blend into their environment. Where they used to be darker, these lizards have adapted to become lighter in order to survive. I think this fact really stuck with me because it felt like it could also be a metaphor for humanity, overall. How we often adapt in order to blend in. I know I have, in my lifetime, morphed into different versions of myself so that I would fit in. Living in a motorcoach, I’ve done a lot of adapting. I’ve learned to live in a small space, and yet, I’ve created a bigger life through all of my experiences these past few years.
When we lived in the mountains, I know that I adapted to fit the environment — even if it was just what I wore. And honestly, in retrospect, I feel like there have been times in my life when I have not been true to myself JUST so that I would not stand out in a particular place. That kind of adapting comes back to haunt you.
Life in itself, the years of it, change us, in part, because of our environment, even if we don’t realize it. We are not so different from the lizards in White Sands. In order to survive, sometimes we have to adapt.
One last thing that was pretty cool at this particular stop was the pistachio. Alamogordo might be known as the gateway to White Sands National Park, but it is also a must-visit just to see the world’s largest pistachio.
Lucky for us, Pistachioland, where the largest nut is displayed, was just across the road from the RV park. Serving as a beacon for us when we returned to the park after a day of exploring, this 30-foot pistachio was erected by the owner of the pistachio ranch in honor of his dad who founded the farm.
After three days at this park, we headed further south. Our path home would be rudely interrupted by Mother Nature– and that story comes next.
