Jingle Bells: Sledding White Sands New Mexico

Not only is the campground we are staying at in an awesome location overlooking the mountains.

They also have the sleds here to loan out. So today we decided to visit our first National Park – White Sands New Mexico.

Missile Testing Facility

On the way in we passed the missile testing facility.

One popular group when Kristi and I were growing up was Boyz II Men.

For some reason, I recalled from useless trivia I learned from MTV that the video for “Water Runs Dry” was shot in White Sands.

Since then, I’ve always wanted to go there. Kristi was equally excited.

So in the car we jammed to Boyz II Men the entire way – just to get the mood right.

See kids, this is what real soulful music is. (Old man voice)

I digress…

The park was definitely worth a visit. The temp was only 70 with a light breeze.

I’m glad it wasn’t hotter.

It felt like Clearwater Beach in early November. Hot sun but a nice breeze. Which is actually my preferred to to beach it in Florida.

That said, I don’t think I’ll visit in July.

Here are some of the pictures from the park:

Sledding 50-75 foot dunes was awesome.

Climbing back up was a bit trickier.

When climbing up or down you can literally sink in to your knees.

It is quite the workout. Unfortunately I couldn’t find “Sand Dune running” in the fitness app on my Apple Watch.

If you drop a child or small dog, you could literally lose them in the sand.

We forgot to buy wax for our sleds, but a boy who was leaving gave us his left overs.

Then it really got fun.

It was like adding a big block transmission to those little plastic sleds.

Even big guys like this guy could slide fast now!

Tip: if you have a snow sled or long sled, bring it.

Those single seater “trash can” lids they give out didn’t cut it for me. They work for the “wee” ones though.

With a little practice the kids were finally able to master sledding.

The kids finally mastering the craft.

At first, they really looked like Floridians.

Kristi and I preferred the real sled.

The kids were a little too eggar to “push” us down the hill.

The kids were surprisingly engaged with the Jr. Ranger program.

They were eager to complete their books to earn their pin.

For your listening enjoyment: The smooth sounds of Boyz II Men in white sands.