Space History and On To Carlsbad

Wed Apr 6
First thing this morning we visited the Museum of Space History in Alamogordo. There was much to see and learn about the history of space exploration, rockets and missiles, satellites, all the research that has gone into putting man in space and exploration of the moon and other planets. A number of exhibits were outdoors and then there were four levels of indoor exhibits. An older gentleman from Oregon was helpful to get us started. The understand that the displays were an international effort although this area of New Mexico figured significantly into space exploration. Of particular interest to us were a moon rock and the shuttle flight simulator. I thought it was funny that Dad crashed the shuttle three out of three tries while trying to land it.

We then headed for Whites City where we are camped at an RV park and will prepare to explore Carlsbad Caverns over the next couple of days. On the way we climbed a pass in the Sacramento Mountains to nearly 9000 feet elevation in few miles to a town called Cloudcroft on highway 82 on our way to Artesia, Carlsbad and finally Whites City . On the climb out of Alamogordo the white sand dunes in the background could clearly be seen in the basin below.

This drive was very scenic to begin with through the mountains but ended with the usual flat and seemingly dry desert.