After a full day of driving, we reached our first road trip destination. Alamogordo, New Mexico. For a while now, Kurt and I have talked about taking a roadtrip to the Grand Canyon since he’s never been. This month seemed to work well, so we decided to make it happen. Our friend Anxhela also decided to join us for the journey, and she quickly became Lulu’s new best friend!

After a 13 hour drive (11.5 of which was just getting out of Texas) and a good night sleep, we took advantage of our motel’s delicious made-to-order New-Mexico style breakfast (with lots of green chiles!) which they kindly prepared for us to-go so we could eat outside at a picnic table near an eye-catching pomegranate tree. The weather was perfect, with the morning temperatures in the low 70s with a slight breeze.

After breakfast, and of course coffee, we made our way down the road to White Sands National Park! It was Kurt and Anxhela’s first time here, and I had been here twice before (once on a family trip when I was 13 and once with some English students 10 years ago on an English-immersion road trip), but this time was my first time there not in the dead of summer! It was even cooler than I remembered!

We decided to start the day with a 2 mile hike over the dunes, and it did not disappoint! The best part was that you can comfortably do the entire hike barefoot!! Even under the warming morning sun, the silky sand felt refreshingly cool on our toes! While we passed several other people, the majority of the hike, there was no one else in sight! White dunes as far as they eye could see! Lulu had already became best friends with Anxhela and was living her best life on the dunes. She discovered the fun of digging and jumping around in the white sand!

We finished the hike just as the day was starting to get a little too hot for a hike in desert sands and took refuge at a shaded picnic table to make sandwiches for lunch. Swiss and turkey sandwich with some frozen grapes and cold Japanese green tea had never tasted better!

After an afternoon nap in our hotel room, we came back to watch the sunset. (Anxhela was shocked that we had time for a nap and said this might not be a true Lauren-trip if there was actually downtime for rest hahaha. Maybe we are getting old, or maybe Kurt has mellowed me out, or maybe I was just trying to be considerate as both Anxhela and Kurt have (politely) complained after different trips that I plan too many things in one trip.) We climbed up several big dunes and found a spot with a view to wait for the sunset, far enough away from the parking area that we wouldn’t see the roads but close enough that we wouldn’t have to be walking far in the dark after the sun went down. As we waited, we noticed storm clouds moving in from one direction. The sky became a surreal mix of half dark doom and half perfect sunset. To the left, foreboding dark clouds rolling in, to the right, beautiful perfect sun lowering in the sky lighting up the clouds with colors. We made bets on whether the storm or the sunset would happen first. 

Almost 5 minutes before the sunset, we saw the first lightning strike in the not far distance. Lulu’s ears went up. She tugged at the leash already ready to go, and Anxhela and I stood up to be ready at any moment but hoping the rest would hold off. 

Another lightning strike, one that felt right above us. NOPE. So then we ran – sprinted – as the heavy rain drops came, thunder now clapping around us. I’m sure the storm was still a bit away, but it felt like it was now right over us. I don’t know if you’ve tried sprinting over 40 foot sand dunes at an altitude 4,000 feet over what you’re used to, but let’s just say it’s not ideal.

Safely in the car we caught our breath and waited until the insane gusts of wind calmed enough for us to have a good laugh and drive out safely. Back at the motel, we were amused to find that one half of the car was covered in an intense layer of sand and the other half looked still freshly washed from our pre-roadtrip car wash. Wow, the desert is crazy!