White Sands in New Mexico

Whites Sands National Park in New Mexico.

Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here, dunes have engulfed 275 square miles of desert creating the world's largest gypsum dunefield.

White Sands National Monument preserves this dunefield, the plants and animals that have successfully adapted to this constantly changing environment.

Elevation: 4,235 ft.

Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico

Holloman Air Force Base at 4,533 ft. elevation.

Temperatures: 70s & 80s and 50s at night. Remember, very low humidity! It's GREAT!

At every Dining Hall (the cafeteria to eat on post) has a table set for the P.O.W.'s (Prisoners Of War) and the M.I.A. (Missing In Action).

There is always a Bible and one rose. I'm so glad they do this in remembrance of these brave soldiers!The German's train here on this post.

The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and the "German Air Force Flying Training Center (GAFFTC)"at Holloman AFB.

The German Air Force has been training its aircrews in the United States since 1958. This training took place on various bases throughout the states before it was moved to Holloman Air Force Base, NM, in 1992.

German flag.

Lincoln National Forest; New Mexico

Our drive out of Carlsbad and into the Lincoln National Forest to get to the Air Force Base was beautiful! Once we started getting closer into the mountains though we saw smoke. Our first thought was a forest fire, but we shrug it off. However, as we drove around the curve and the smoke was billowing into the sky we were told by firemen to turn around! It was quite an adventure! We could see the huge fire that covered a tall evergreen tree.
When we got in that night to the campground, we looked up the latest news on the forest fire. It had started at 2pm that day (we were there around 4) and it had already covered 2,000 acres by that night! The wind was atrocious which didn't help. About 4 days later the Mayhill fire had covered 21,000 acres!!

Our drive:

Lincoln National Forest sign. Smokey the Bear was a real, baby bear found around 1950 that had been burned. He was found at the top of a tree and rescued! He was found in this forest!


This is where we stopped to stretch our legs, let the cars rest from the mountain we just drove up and to enjoy the scenery. This is at 9,200 feet elevation!

The fire:

Carlsbad Campground

Carlsbad sits at 3,200 ft. elevation. It was sunny and quite warm, but without humidity. Very windy. This campground was such a God send for Jacob's 6th birthday! There was a nice game room with ping pong and video games and his oldest brother gave him quarters for part of his present! He had a blast!

Carlsbad Caverns

We drove through Whites City to get to the caverns. It is located at a lower elevation, at approximately 4500 ft.

Inside the cave:


There are two entrances to the cave. This is the photo of the entrance outside and the other entrance is the elevator inside the building.
The grounds outside the cave at 6535 feet elevation: