Leaving The Enchanted Land of New Mexico

We are leaving this beautiful area of New Mexico. We visited the Mesilla Plaza which had an art festival going on at the time. The side car of the motorcycle had a Teddy Bear in it with a smaller bear in it's arm. The owner says the bear is his wife's insurance policy against other women looking for a ride in the sidecar:)
We, of course, just had to take another scenic ride that was in "the book". We took the Geronimo Trail over to Silver City. The route goes over Emory Pass at 8200' and gives a great view of the area. The road does some serious ups, downs, lefts and rights. Debs, this would challenge the Dragon's Tail easily:) But, be sure to pack a lunch as it's a long ways between points A and B here. Silver City is a very artsy town with lots of galleries. Lou was on the trail of a Fiber Arts event that is a statewide cooperative of artists using fibers in their crafts. This includes needle work, quilting, weaving, etc.
We also came upon a Fractal Arts group that was having a showing in Las Cruces. The professor doing the training and her class members had some of their images in a coffee shop. Very pretty images were created on their computers by layering rendered images from math algorithms. February is "Celebrate the Arts" in New Mexico and there is not a shortage of artists of all types in the state.
Yesterday we went on another scenic drive to White Sands National Monument. The gypsum sand is really white and the dunes are awesome. The plants and animals have adapted to the environment and shifting dunes. The picture of the Soap Plant Yucca on top of the sand dune shows the tenacity of the plant. As the dune moves forward and builds, the plant just grows faster to keep it's leaves on top. This one was on top of a dune 25-30' high. As the dune moves on and leaves the plant base exposed, it collapses and dies from the lack of support.
Afterwards we went onward to Alamogordo to see the Space Museum there. The rocket sled in the picture was the one that Col. Paul Stapp rode to test the limits of deceleration on the human body. The sled accelerated to 632 MPH with the help of 12 rocket motors on the back. It rode on rails until it hit a water trough for the rapid deceleration. The braking effect was quite dramatic on his body. The video of his facial distortion was almost painful to watch.
Today was a "getting ready to go" day with laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning. Tomorrow will take care of itself as we head westward once again with destination undecided. But, we're Retired so it doesn't really matter where:)