Out West Trip: Day 7 (Carrizozo, NM to Silver City, NM)

Today’s Highlights:
Waiting 1.25 hours at a train crossing, seeing 1000 year old petroglyphs, sledding on the dunes at White Sands.

After an easy breakfast, we hit the road. On the way to Alamogordo, we decided to take a short detour to see some 1000 year old petroglyphs at Three Rivers. We had to wait twenty minutes at a train crossing for three trains to pass. At the site, we went for a long walk through lots of rocks that are covered with 1000 year old petroglyphs at Three Rivers. On the way back to the main road, we again had to wait at the crossing, this time for 45 minutes while the train picked up an extra engine.

petroglyphs - 28 may 2011

We stopped to see the giant pistachio and taste some samples, then headed to the New Mexico Museum of Space History. Chloe and Rob both managed to land a space shuttle! A short ride later and we arrived at White Sands. We “rented” a sled and drove out to the furthest dunes. The sand was really blowing, so the girls put on goggles for their sledding adventure.

giant pistachio - 28 may 2011

white sands - 28 may 2011

Covered with sand, we headed over the pass to Las Cruces and stopped at Sonic to get some lunch/dinner. As we left town on I-10, we had to pass through a Border patrol station — we were so obviously a family on a road trip, that we were waved through once we stated we were all American citizens.

We finally arrived at the KOA in Silver City, NM, around 7pm. Everyone was super nice to us from the start. The girls went to meet a wolf, then we gathered all the laundry before the girls went back for the ice cream social and then some time in the pool. I spent bunch of time trying to get caught up on everything.

My reviews:

• Three Rivers Petrroglyph Site on Trekaroo
• NM Museum of Space history on Trekaroo
• White Sands NM on Trekaroo
• KOA Silver City on Trekaroo

Trip Stats:
Roadside Attractions: World’s Largest Pistachio Nut, Scrap Metal Roadrunner (Total: 9)
States: New Mexico. (Total: 6 – GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM)
State Plates Spotted: 3 (Total: 28)
Miles: 270 (Total: 2160)
Gallons of gas bought: 15.4 (Total: 135.3)
Poptops Spotted: None. (Total: 2)
National Park Stamps: White Sands NM (Total: 2)
Miles walked: 3.5 (Total: 11.5)
Dollars saved with NP pass: 8 (Total: 26)