48 Hours in New Mexico: Day 2 | White Sands

On Saturday morning, we woke up with the sun. Because of the time difference, it was easy to get up and get ready. Despite the previous evening's lightheadedness debacle, we were feeling pretty good.

Our original plans for breakfast were thwarted when we found out that the restaurant was closed on Sundays. However, it worked out because we ended up at a really delicious spot.

TIA SOPHIA'S

At Yelp's suggestion, we headed to Tia Sophia's where we both ordered the breakfast burrito with sausage. It was served in the Santa Fe style, which means it was smothered, almost like an enchilada. We both went for the green chile and loved it. The serving size was really generous and the burrito was stuffed full with grated potato, cheese, and sausage.

LORETTO CHAPEL

We weren't able to head inside because there was a full on mass going on, but we just enjoyed it from the exterior instead.

SAN MIGUEL CHURCH

Our last stop in Santa Fe that morning was at the San Miguel Church, which is the oldest church in the continental US. Again, because it was Sunday, we couldn't go inside. But, we loved the adobe walls and just relegated our photography to the exterior.

NEW MEXICO STATE CAPITOL
Actually, I lied. Our real last stop was at the State Capitol, kind of. We were just curious so we took a quick look from afar and it was an easy spot to request our hotel shuttle to come get us.

Mid morning, we hit the road with our free water bottles, courtesy of our hotel, and started driving south.

WORLD'S LARGEST PISTACHIO

We decided our road trip wouldn't be a real road trip without stopping at a cheesy attraction. Since this giant pistachio was on our way, we stopped for the photo op.

WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT
We found this place via Pinterest and fell in love and decided we had to incorporate it into our trip. Basically, there used to be some giant gypsum crystals that eroded into a soft white sand and that's why this place exists. One of the park rangers explained that the more mature dunes have vegetation on them and the younger dunes are clean and white.

For whatever reason, they weren't collecting entrance fees on this particular day so we got in for free. I would've been more than willing to cough up the cash though because this place was really spectacular.

Before you go, you should check the website and call in to make sure the park will be open because they do a lot of missile testing in this area and often the major roads surrounding the park will also be closed.

I had a hard time putting the camera down because this whole place was so mesmerizing.

There are sleds for sale at the gift shop so you can slide around in the dunes. We saw several families with young children having a blast. We didn't sled. Instead, we climbed all over the dunes and got loads of sand in our shoes.

The contrast of the blue sky with the pure white sand was irresistible to me.

LAS CRUCES AIRBNB
We booked this awesome little shipping container apartment for the night and we loved it. The views outside were amazing and the space itself was gorgeous. It was tiny and decorated in a beautifully simple Scandinavian style. It was comfortable with a well-stocked kitchenette.

 The sunset from this place was pretty unreal.

For dinner, we decided to make use of our cute little kitchenette. We made ramen with bok choy, sticky rice, and some fried kielbasa.

This was an enjoyable little feast.

After dinner, we sat outside on our patio in Adirondack chairs and enjoyed the twinkling stars. They weren't as clear as they could be, since Las Cruces is a pretty happenin' town that produces quite a bit of light pollution. But, it was a thousand times better than the stars are at home so we loved it.

xoxo.