We were hoping to avoid snow...

We had waited for 3 more days in Dallas in hopes that we could avoid running into snow on our way west. After spending last night east of El Paso, we decided to take a route around the city to avoid the busy I-10 right in town, and we ended up in this:

Oh my goodness, is that snow?

Completely covering the road - hard packed....

Well... maybe not... exactly... snow....

Rather, it was gypsum, at the White Sands National Monument.

Given that the temperature was near freezing, and there were folks all around on plastic "saucers" sledding down the hills of sand, it was easy to think that we were in snow!

Behind us and in front!

Dwayne at the top of a dune!

We had a fun time taking a break from our dedicated trek west to see this National Monument. It made for a shorter driving day, but was well worth it.