Thursday, November 11, 2010

VINTAGE #5

Hello everybody!!

Yes, I'm still traveling around the country.  Yesterday we left Columbus, New Mexico, and headed to the Holloman Air Force Base, in New Mexico, to stay a couple of days in the Holloman Inn on base and travel to various towns and points of interest in the area.  The actual Air Force Base is a like a city; complete with schools, parks, businesses (post office, grocery stores, restaurants, etc.), golf course, and everything a normal town would have.  I have to say I am very impressed and what a glorious place to be on Veteran's Day!!!

Today I have some more pictures of pages from my heritage album I did for my brother and our trip to White Sands, New Mexico yesterday. 

These two pages show my grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great grandfather.  I used a discontinued SU Scrapbook Kit for these pages (sorry, I don't have my stuff on vacation and can't remember the name).

Close-up of left page (yes, I still have to put some journaling on that tag!!)

Close-up of page to right (and another tag that needs journaling).
 A little background on White Mountain National Monument.  These are dunes formed in the Tularosa Basin when the gypsum that forms the white sand was deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea covering the area 250 million years ago.  Eventually it turned into stone, and the gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains formed.  Ten million years ago the center of this dome started to collapse, creating the Tularosa Basin.  The remaining sides of the original dome from the San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges now ring the Tularosa Basin.  Rain and snow dissolve gypsum from the rocks and carry it into the Tularosa Basin.  The eroding mountains have now filled the Tularosa Basin 2,000 feet deep with sediments, including the gypsum that forms its white sands.
San Andres Mountains -- just before we turned into the White Sands National Monument, in New Mexico.  Taken from truck window so not the best-focused picture.

Going into White Sands and parking area.  (You really need to click on these pictures to enlarge and see how this looks just like snow).

This probably would be described as transverse dunes.  We climbed up to the top of this mountain to take this picture (well maybe it would be called a dune).

Doesn't this look like it should be a Christmas Postcard -- and to think it is all sand!!

Hubby and me on top of a dune.

View of mountains in the back and parking spot from on top.

Awesome!!  Pictures do not even come close to showing you the beauty.
Well you got a lot more than you bargained for when you checked out my blog today -- but you have to admit it was all "historical."  Myself, I hated geography when I was in school but found this fascinating.  I do believe one could travel their entire lifetime and not see all of the beautiful wonders of this earth.  I hope you didn't mind the little geography lesson today (I guess those that did aren't reading this far anyway).

As always, thank you so much for stopping by.  And for those leaving a comment, I appreciate it so very much.

Sandi
"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?" -- Matthew 7:3

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the geography class! Really though the first time I looked at the pictures of the sand, I thought you were at Salt Lake City. That is what the salt basin looks like only it is flat land not like dunes. I sure looks pretty. I loved you 2 heritage pages. I have never seen these pictures (are they in our CD?) Catch you later. miss you.

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  2. Love your post tonight. You do such a good job on your heritage pages. Richard better really treasure them because if I come visit him I think I would be temped to steal them for myself!! Wish you would of made copies so we could of all had some or did you make copies of the pictures? The rest of the pictures are just a good as you described today on the phone super. Looks like you are having a wonderful vacation, don't forget to come home, we miss you. :)

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  3. I love your heritage pages, wish I had my family's old pictures. I love travel pictures and never knew such a place existed. Thanks!

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  4. What an awesome layout! You really did a great job tying in the colors with the B&W pictures.
    TFS

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