Alamogordo, New Mexico May 25 – May 29, 2024
The top attraction in Alamogordo is White Sands National Park. We were unable to visit the entire park (another travel god setback) because of missile testing at the missile range which is still open and operational. White Sands covers approximately 275 square miles and is the largest gypsum dunefield in the world. A normal visit would consist of walking on the sands and driving the 16 mile round trip of through the dunes. All but 3 miles of the park was closed, but we were still able to walk the dunes. The dunes reminded me of walking on the beach in Panama City – but without the gulf!
We also visited the New Mexico Museum of Space History. You may ask why is there a space museum in Alamogordo – I certainly did. Apparently, many major breakthroughs in space technology occurred in the Alamogordo area, and the museum offers a variety of exhibitions to showcase those milestones. I personally think it is because Ham (the first great ape launched into space) was from Alamogordo and his remains are at the space museum. It is a very nice museum with lots of exhibits and a planetarium.
We stayed at Oliver Lee Memorial Park which was located at the base of the Sacramento Mountains. The park had great views and Ziva really liked it.
Of course you cannot visit Alamogordo without stopping to take a picture of the world’s largest Pistachio – yes there is a world’s largest pistachio. Evidently, the climate in southern New Mexico is perfect for growing pistachios – who knew?
Overall, we liked Alamogordo. The town was small, but had everything we needed and the park was nice.
Now we are headed to Silver City, New Mexico.
“Rocket Man” by Elton John