We said our farewell to Sand Dunes National Monument on Friday, March 28. Our last work day was the previous day when I “worked” the trails shift and Shannon did the Sunset Stroll for the last time. During the week of our leaving, we both did the stroll twice. It was also the windiest strolls that we had encountered. We had to alter our routes, speak and stroll rapidly, discourage questions, and hope the chin straps on our hats would hold. It was a memorable way to finish although we had hoped for calm strolls with large, appreciative crowds and stunning sunsets. Only in the movies…

This is what a veteran leader of Sunset Strolls looks like, obviously unflappable. By the end of our tenure, if we forgot our facts, we were experienced enough to make up new ones and recite them convincingly.

We always showed off and talked lots about the iconic structure of the gypsum dunes, the “pedestal.” With some plants water will leach from the roots into the surrounding sand causing the gypsum around the roots to harden like concrete. Think plaster of Paris.  When the sand dune move on as all dunes will eventually do, a plant that has “cemented” itself in place can hold on to its spot despite the moving sand. The moving sand dune then leaves behind a pedestal of hard gypsum with a plant on top. This happens only in gypsum sand; most other sand comes from quartz which does not get hard when mixed with water and therefore does not form pedestals. To understand how they were formed and to touch them were always highlights of the stroll.

And, of course, we spent our time in the Visitor Center, telling people mostly where the restrooms were, where they could buy sleds for sledding down the dunes, and why they couldn’t stop and get out of their cars in the first 4 miles of the dune drive in the safety corridor. (See blog about the drone crash.)  We ran the cash register, and toward the end I only had one major screw up per shift. Unflappable veteran, indeed.

We have good memories of WHSA. We enjoyed our three months there, but 3 months seemed to be our limit and it was good to move on. We started to see more warts than good stuff, and staff was unloading on us about the rest of the staff. Although one of our talents is being good listeners and we have great shoulders to cry on, we are just temporary volunteers and folks left behind need to figure out on their own how to find solace and fix what is broken. We have it easy; we can move on.

So, we left early Friday morning and drove to west of Albuquerque to a casino campground run by the Acoma Pueblo. We ended up spending two nights. We had wanted to visit Sky City and tried in December, but it was closed. We decided to take the time and make a visit to Sky City as part of our New Mexico farewell.  

Sky City is the traditional and spiritual heart of the Acoma Pueblo. It is a community built on top of a mesa, and the access for most of its history was limited to steep trails with handholds up the rock face of the mesa. In the 1950’s a movie company offered to build a road to the top if they could shoot their movie there. Today there is still no electricity or running water, but one can get to Sky City by driving. Access requires purchasing a ticket, riding a bus, and being accompanied by an Acoma guide. The above is a picture from Sky City looking across the valley floor at another mesa that was occupied briefly. The picture gives you an idea of what the mesa looks like where Sky City is built. Anyway, it was worth the extra day, and it was fitting that it was our last visit to a historic site during our time in the SW.

Our intermediate destination on our way to KY is Grand Junction. I know, it is not the most direct way to get to KY from Alamogordo. However, it is part of Shannon’s roots and it was probably our last chance to bid our brother-in-law farewell. Shannon also needed a little up-close time with her sister before we headed east. We did make it to Grand Junction on Sunday night despite gale force winds. Last September when we left Grand Junction for AZ we drove through the worst rain-hail-lightning-wind-flooding storm imaginable, and now heading back to Grand Junction we experienced wind conditions that were unimaginable. Should be an interesting trip; to KY.

This is an extra long blog post. March was hectic and lots happened. A visit from Kedric and then a notification that my nephew had unexpectedly passed away led to a lot of scrambling and a change in routine. Even retirees get into a routine. I made a quick trip to PA, and then it seemed we never got caught up after that. We did manage one last trip to see the Smokey the Bear museum and his burial place in Capitan, spend time immersed in Billy the Kid, and visit Fort Stanton. But now, a few days of R and R in GJ before heading for Tornado Alley will do us good. 

And then there's the pup...