March 8, 2024 - March 17, 2024 -- Oliver Lee State Park in Alamogordo, NM and Carlsbad KOA, NM
Written By: Wendy Ptolemy
Photos By: Scott Ptolemy
Coming into Oliver Lee State Park, it was a huge relief to know our campsite number and know exactly where to go, as opposed to the past week of boondocking where we had to hope there was a spot available and then spend time scoping out the area to see where we could even park our trailer. It inevitably lead to tense moments between Scott and I ("I thought you looked at Google Maps before we got here to see if we would fit!" "I thought you looked at Google Maps!") Let's just say parking at the state park was a breeze compared to the past few days and left us with plenty of time to enjoy the sunset over the San Andres Mountains with the Tularosa Basin below.
The next morning we headed out to White Sands National Park. We got a later start that we planned due to Scott attempting to attach our third solar panel onto the roof. We are coming to learn that these projects always seem to take longer than expected, especially when it is your first time. We hadn't really seen many people for quite sometime so we didn't really think anything of the fact that it was Sunday afternoon and perfectly sunny at 65 degrees. We were shocked when we pulled up to the park and we had to circle around the visitor center parking lot several times before finding a spot and then wait in a 20 minute car line to even get into the park. Where did all these people come from?! Once in the park, everyone has the exact same goal: play in the sand.
There is sand everywhere; walls of sand lining either side of the road and rolling hills of pristine white sand in the distance. There was so much sand that it looked like the road frequently had to be plowed to remove the sand from the road. Given all the sand and the fact that everyone just wanted to play in the sand, the crowds quickly dispersed throughout the multiple pull outs and parking lots throughout the park. When we pulled into our parking spot, Caroline looked out the window with a confused look on her face, and said, "Is that snow? But we no have our boots." It did look like snow. A lot like snow. It was pristinely white and glistened in the sunshine, the same way freshly fallen snow glistens in the sunshine on a bluebird day. We assured her that it was sand, and she accepted it with a still slightly skeptical look on her face. Nevertheless, the kids grabbed their shovels and pails and ran up the hills of sand. We all laid in the sand and made sand angels, we scooped it in the pails and made mountains of sand, and just laid in the cool sand with the warm sun shining down on us. The sand here is unique because it is made of gypsum, which is apparently a rare find. There is water below the sand which is what keeps the sand so nice and cool even on the hottest days. The softness and coolness of the sand had a very calming effect. We were all happy to just sit in the sand and pick it up and feel it slowly fall through our fingertips over and over and over again until every last anxious and frayed nerve was calmed. Once all our pants were sufficiently filled with sand and our bodies equally worn out and relaxed, we headed out with plans to return the next day for sunset.
The next day we planned to finish installing the solar panel on the roof, but we did not have all the necessary installation hardware, and we could not find the needed pieces in town. We also found that a small patch of mold that we had found on our ceiling about a month had spread to a larger patch throughout our kitchen and into the bathroom. Scott and I were both about maxed out in terms of stress, and we debated even going into White Sands again. Then we remembered the calming effect the magical white sand had on all of us, and we figured a trip to the park just might be the right tonic of us that afternoon. We grabbed a take out dinner on the way (local food, of course - KFC) and borrowed sleds from our campground. After filling up our cranky bellies with fried deliciousness, we made a short trek out to a large dune we saw in the distance as the sun began to set beyond the white dunes. What looked like a short trek, ended up being a full blown workout to try to get two toddlers up and down massive hills of deep sand. But we were rewarded when we made it to the top of the big dune that provided views of sand dune after sand dune into the distance. We were able to see people adventuring out to even farther sand dunes in every direction. We saw a group horseback riding and several families sledding. Scott and I both took in simultaneous deep breaths, and instantly felt better. We waxed the bottom of our sled, and being the adventurous soul that I am, I tried out the first ride and was blown away by the speed that I gained flying down the sand mountain. I let out thrilled whoops of excitement all the way down and ended the ride with a full belly laugh at the bottom. I ran back up the sand mountain, with my calves and thighs burning from running up the deep sand, but with a broad smile on my face all the while. “Who wants to go with me next?!” Both kids peered nervously down the steep mountain side and hesitated. Scott took me up on my offer, and I laughed even harder the whole way down as I felt like a child again hanging onto my hubby’s waist with my hair flying behind me as I flew down the sand mountain.
Suddenly all the tension and stress that had been between us that day melted away as we were transformed into two kids again just playing together. We ran back up to grab the actual kids and all took turns sledding down. Once all our legs were wobbly from running up the sand and the sun was a blazing orange ball on the horizon, we flopped down at the top to watch the sunset over the dunes. It was a spectacularly stunning sunset. It started off like any other sunset with small streaks of color, but as the sun set farther below the horizon, large swaths of bright orange and pink lit up the sky in a breathtaking view with the pristine white sand below. As the colors started to fade, we knew that nightfall would come quickly, so we made the sandy trek back to our truck. We felt renewed and refreshed and knew that we could and would figure out whatever we needed to figure out with our trailer, but we were grateful that we took the time to play that afternoon.
Our next stop was Carlsbad, NM to see Carlsbad Caverns National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Neither Scott nor I had ever heard of Guadalupe Mountains National Park before, but when we were looking at a map of the national parks about a week prior to going to Carlsbad, we realized that it was only about an hour drive from our campground. I guess that meant we had to go check it out and cross it off the list. At the visitor center we learned that this whole area used to be under water about 260 million years ago. Within the mountains was the largest collection of aquatic fossils in the world. We went on a short hike that displayed a large number of fossils spread throughout the rocks on the ground and up the sides of the mountain. Parker quickly became a self-proclaimed expert at finding fossils. I have never seen so many obvious fossils at once, and it was amazing to imagine this vast mountainous landscape as an underwear oasis at one point that was teeming with various ancient aquatic animals. We were in the middle of nowhere with nothing in sight except for rocky cliffs and a diverse an array of cacti spread throughout the mountainside.
We were in Carlsbad on 3.14, or Pi Day, so we of course had to celebrate with a 50 Pies Party. We did know anyone at the campground, and there was no group chat like many of the Thousand Trails campgrounds have, so we had no way to reach out to other families in the campground. We talked with the staff of the KOA, and they sent out a message to all the guests about the details of our pizza party. We had only talked to our neighbors personally about the party, so we had no clue how many people would actually show up that day. We guessed not many, though. We were completely wrong, and it ended up being our pizza party that was closest to our mission thus far. We had a steady stream of people come by our campsite. Most people brought chairs and sat and talked with others that they had just met. It was a mix of young and old, full time RV travelers and weekend warriors. There were retirees and teens, toddlers and single solo travelers. We were blown away by the wide array of representation of people that showed up and were talking and getting to know each other. There was a couple from New York that traveled full-time talking to a young family from Louisiana. There was an elderly couple from Texas talking to a single man from New Mexico. How would all these people have met otherwise? They probably would not have. None of them many ever talk again, but just the fact that they interacted with some people outside of their circle of friends and comfort zone, people who had different perspectives on life, people who had diverse opinions made my heart soar. We were doing it. We were bringing different people together over a common interest: pizza and pie. We cranked out 18 pizzas and 14 pies, for a total of 32 (or 3.14). Everyone profusely thanked us and were in awe of our generosity and ability to bring everyone together. We laughed, learned about new places to travel to, swapped parenting tips, and ate until there was no food left. Scott and I were exhausted after the party, but our hearts were full knowing that we were living out our true values and family mission.
Luckily after the pizza party, we had a drizzly down day which we all needed. We cozied up together, baked chocolate chip cookies, and watched Cinderella for “C week.” The next day was chilly and gray (in the low 50’s!) compared to two days ago that was in the 70’s. Perfect day to explore an underground cave. Carlsbad Caverns visitor center ended up being even more packed than White Sands, but thankfully we had a reservation to get into the cave. We choose to take the natural entrance in, which was a 1.25 mile hike down as opposed to the 1 minute elevator ride. As we approached the mouth of the cave, both kids immediately wanted to turn around and tightened the grip of their tiny fingers around our hands. We calmed and encouraged them by pointing out the beginning wonders of the cave of stalactites and stalagmites. Once their eyes adjusted, they both forgot about their worries and admired the amazing and unusual rock formations before them. We made it into the Big Room and main part of the cave, it was another 1.25 mile hike around the perimeter of the big room to weave in and out of different rock formations. Parker enjoyed naming the different stalactite and stalagmite formations. Most had names having to do with pirates, “Pirate lake!” “Pirate finger!” “Captain Hook’s rock!” But it was a fun game that kept him entertained and motivated to finish the hike. After we returned from the Caverns, we knew we had a big day ahead of us tomorrow, making the 5+ hour down to Big Bend National Park. We decided to make it a quiet and early evening to get our rest. Unfortunately the universe had other plans for us, and I ended up spending the whole night up with a poor puking Caroline. By the time, the sun’s rays were entering our windows in the morning, she hadn’t thrown up in several hours, so we decided to make the push while everyone else was still feeling good, just in case. Good thing we made the push when we did, but there’s more to come on that later. For now, just think about the gorgeous white sand, amazing pizza party, and stunning caverns. Don’t think about the throw up.