Wind, Sand, and Stars

After feeling under the weather this past week, I’m just going to make this short and sweet with two of my favorite pictures.

One of the photos that brings back so many good memories is from our trip to White Sands National Park in June, 2019.  We had arrived there during the afternoon when the temperature was soaring past 100 degrees. There were gusts of wind at times.  After trudging up a few sand dunes, we decided to leave, get some dinner, and then return in the cooler evening for the sunset.

In the picture above, it was about 7 pm.  We managed to climb to the top of one of the farthest dunes.  The walking wasn’t easy because of the depth of the sand in places.  But there was something magical about the experience. Even though there were people climbing dunes in other directions, it felt like we were so alone with nature.  The wind had died down, the sun was setting, and there was a quietness I will never forget.

We experienced something similar when Tom and I went stargazing in August, 2020.  Tom had found a place on Google Maps that was about two hours east of Barstow, California, off of Route 66.  We looked for dark sky that would enhance our viewing of the Perseid meteor shower.  We did see a few meteors, but overall, there were so many stars to see that we stayed on that hilltop until 12:30 am.  It was very hot, but again, it felt as if we were totally alone with nature.  I loved seeing the Milky Way, which we can never see in the city.

When life is busy, I often reflect on those special, quiet times.