Acres of White Sand but no Waves in Sight

The base of this tree with its roots exposed by shifting sand looks like it is running away.

We have arrived at our Winter home at Picacho Peak Arizona. It is always an adventure to choose a place to stay when you have never been to an area before but we are very happy with our choice. Picacho Peak RV Resort is a lovely friendly park with a lot of amenities and active Winter residents. There is plenty of room to walk and ride bikes. Fred has met a group of Pickleballers and I am already in with the Crafty ladies. Its going to be a fun few months. We are settled in and have been busy planning for the Holidays.

I finally am getting around to recording our last few stops in New Mexico and Arizona before arriving here on December 1.

The few we looked out on at White Sands Missile Range RV Park.

We had an opportunity to stay at New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range Army Base in mid-November. Their RV Park is only 8 sites and we were lucky to be able to claim one for a week. The pads were situated to have a lovely view of Salinas Peak and the San Andres Mountains.

This is a remote outpost. The motto on base is “This isn’t the end of the earth, but you can see it from here.”

White Sands Missile Range is right up the road from White Sands National Monument, another of our National Treasures administered by the National Park Service. It is like no other part of the desert that we have seen. The sands of the Tularosa Basin in this part of the Chihuahuan Desert are a brilliant white in color. From a distance the dunes look like snow drifts. The sand here is gypsum and it is cool on your feet making it pleasant to walk in. A shallow seeping water supply beneath the sand supports a small but diverse ecosystem that is not found anywhere else on earth. The sands are always moving changing the shape of the dunes. Plants have learned to grow tall quickly and to dig in their roots. Animals have adapted by evolving into light colored versions of their species.

Fred walking across the sand.

Visiting White Sands is like going to the beach, without an ocean nearby. Family's picnic here with sun shades and beach blankets and barbecue equipment. There are Volley Ball nets set up and several groups of people had brought in waxed sleds to slide down the dunes.

Sleds waiting for riders.

We took a short hike through the dune life nature trail, walked a boardwalk over and between the dunes and enjoyed a picnic lunch. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

We enjoyed the adobe architecture and decorative doors of Las Cruces.

White Sands is not far from Las Cruces, New Mexico. We drove into the historic city twice in order to explore. Our first visit was to attend the Saturday Farmers Market. The Market turned out to be more craft fair than produce market but we did see a great Veterans Day Parade that included marching bands, representatives from all branches of the Military,  local Police, Fire, EMS and Border Patrol. It was quite a spectacle and we were glad to have happened upon it.

 Billy the Kid was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang but escaped after being transferred from Mesilla.

Our second visit to Las Cruces was to the Old Mesilla District. We enjoyed seeing all of the historic adobe houses with stone fences guarding their gardens. Old Mesilla was part of the Wild West. Here at one corner of the Plaza Billy the Kid was jailed while waiting for trial. The old jail is a gift shop that serves delicious coffee now. Francisco Pancho Villa walked these streets. Pat Garrett, the man who killed Billy the Kid, is buried here.

Old Mesilla shop.

Opposite the old jail is La Posta de Mesilla a restaurant that was once a stop on the Butterfield Stagecoach Line. The old adobe building once provided rooms for sleeping, a blacksmith shop and a stable for horses in addition to food service.  

We enjoyed a great lunch of traditional southwest foods while watching restaurant employees decorate for Christmas. The restaurant has a large display of caged parrots and piranha in tanks near the entrance. It was unexpected and delightful. Thanks for the recommendation Mike and Connie Johnson!

The other historic buildings around the Plaza house restaurants and gift shops that feature products from the Southwest and Mexico. Some of the buildings are adobe, others were brick and one had decorative tin siding. We enjoyed looking at all of the woven rugs and blankets whose designs are specific to individuals or families.

Beautiful work.

another Old Mesilla doorway

We left White Sands Missile Range on Friday morning and were thrilled to see a missile test on that last day. I was out walking and Fred was at the RV talking with our neighbor when we each observed the missile streak through the sky and land in a puff of smoke. The sound and a contrail followed a few seconds later. It was an amazing display that we were glad to have seen. US-70 and the access road to the base close during the tests so we were a captive audience for the rest of the testing that morning. Happily we only had to travel about 60 miles to our next destination.

White Sands National Monument

19955 US-70

Alamogordo, New Mexico

Old Mesilla Village

2385 Calle de Guadalupe

Las Cruces, New Mexico

Farmers and Craft Market of Las Cruces

125 N Main St

Las Cruces, New Mexico

Saturdays 8:30-1

Norfolk Botanical Garden

Japanese Garden

Bonsai specimen in the Japanese garden

We fell in love with Botanical Gardens after visiting the one in Brooklyn while visiting our daughter Melissa one Spring many years ago.  

There is something wonderful about wandering among the plants and trees moving along paths between planned spaces.

We have found Botanical Gardens in many cities that we have visited and Norfolk's is among the most beautiful.

We crossed 3 bridges on our garden walk, each one draped with flowers

Rose garden specimen

Rose garden

The Norfolk Botanical Garden has been around since 1938 when a WPA grant and a donation of 150 acres of land from the city coincided to build an azalea garden.  200 African American women were assigned the project and working with only hand tools cleared enough land for 10,000 flowers and shrubs to be planted.

Today the Norfolk Botanical Garden encompasses 175 acres and 52 themed gardens. They are connected by roads and walking paths. 

We visited on an overcast day with threats of showers but it didn't dampen our enthusiasm for wandering among the plants.

I particularly enjoyed the Japanese garden with its tables of ornamental Bonsai trees and a quiet pond that hosted turtles and dragonflies. The azaleas and rhododendron were long past their blooming phase but the roses were lovely.

View from the NATO Overlook

Eagle statue NATO overlook

Fred's favorite display was the NATO Vista. The NATO overlook is a covered tower at the center of the garden. Built on a high point in the landscape it allows a birds eye view of much of the garden spaces.

You would have to return a number of times and in all seasons to see the everything that Norfolk Botanical Garden has to offer. We were happy to be able to walk about 75% of it before the weather changed for the worse.

We had a lovely walk and got back to the truck before the skies opened. All in all a great way to spend the afternoon.

Norfolk Botanical Garden

6700 Azalea Garden Rd

Norfolk, VA

23518

(757) 441-5830

norfolkbotanicalgarden.org

South Texas Botanical Garden Corpus Christi Texas

We thoroughly enjoyed the Orchid Conservatory 

Corpus Christi is home to a hidden gem. The South Texas Botanical Garden is located in a mostly residential neighborhood. It's 180 acres is surrounded by housing developments and a large ranch right off of South Staples Street. It includes natural wet lands and is bordered by the Oso Creek.

Specimen from the Bromelaid Conservatory

A tour of the gardens begins at the Visitor's Center where knowledgeable volunteers showed us a site map and pointed out highlights. They encouraged to visit the reptile center at the rear of the building. The Botanical Gardens are home to 30-40 reptiles at any given time.  Snakes, Lizards and Tortoises that have been rescued from life threatening situations or donated by families who once kept them as pets have found a safe haven here.
There are also 40 Parrots and Macaws donated by the Coastal Bend Companion Bird Club that have found a home in the garden.
The smaller specimens are kept in the reptile house, The larger birds and the tortoises have protected quarters outdoors.

These sunny orange blossoms beckoned us into the gardens

We walked around the Visitor Center and passed a Koi filled pond. Beyond the pond is a Plumeria garden.  In February the trees are bare except for a few early leaves. There are more than 100 specimens of the fragrant tropical flower located here in Southern Texas.We spent some time speaking with one of the gardeners who was very enthusiastic about them. She explained that the Botanical Garden had an association with a garden in Australia that shared specimens of Plumeria. The blooms are called Frangipani there.
There are 2 large Conservatories on the grounds. They are home to a Bromelaid collection and a large number of Orchids.

A mass of epiphytes in the Bromelaid Conservatory

The Bromelaid Conservatory contains many epiphytes. I find these air plants to be so strange and otherworldly. Their ariel roots and hanging masses create such a spooky atmosphere. They hung from fences and wires and coconut fiber baskets on the walls. There were also terrestrial bromelaids with long spiky leaves and unsusual brightly colored flowers. Pot after pot of various succulents filled the shelves.

The Orchid Conservatory is amazing. So many beautiful fragile flowers in one place.We are told that they include Cattleya, Phaleonopsis, Paphiopedlum and Dendrobium genera. The orchids were part of the Don Larkin Collection, willed by him to the Botanical Garden . It is the largest public orchid display in the state of Texas.


The organization is currently seeking funding for a Tropical Rainforest Conservatory to round out it's indoor collection.
Fred finally pulled me away from the orchids and we began to wander the outdoor gardens.  We were pleasantly surprised at the variety of flowers and plants that were in bloom in early February.
There is a Tropical Garden right outside the Conservatories that is full of lush foliage and shade trees. Hibiscus are plentiful here as well as huge Elephant Ears and low growing greenery. The tropical birds are housed here and there are future plans for an aviary.  We enjoyed the garden seating area set up in the shade.

Bloom from the Hummingbird Narden

Beyond the tropicals we found a Hummingbird Garden and one dedicated to butterflies complete with a Butterfly House.  These gardens as well as an Arid garden located on the other side of the property are designed as landscape examples for local Texan gardeners. The Botanical Gardens Earth Kind Demonstration Trial Gardens are meant to help people chose the hardiest, most pest and disease-resistant plants.that are appropriate for the South Texas environment.

Butterfly Garden

The Butterfly Garden is on the edge of the wetlands. We followed an extensive trail and boardwalk system that lead us around and over the water to view birds and native water plants. There were many warning signs about native rattlesnakes. Thankfully they were in hiding during our visit.  
A stroll around the Oso Creek Trail brings you to the cactus filled Arid Garden and an area of more formal raised bed plantings that include roses, herbs and Vegetables.

Arid Garden

We stopped and sat for a while in the lovely Sensory Garden before heading back inside to thank our hosts. We enjoyed the sculptures there and in fact were delighted and impressed to see so much artwork featured in the gardens and on the trails.

Seating in the Sensory Garden made of concrete and mosaic tiles

Rose garden

If you visit Corpus Christi we highly recommend the South Texas Botanical Garden. it is an organization still in it's growing phase and utilizes community volunteers to do much of the work. It is beautiful now and will only improve with time. 

To see more photos of these lovely gardens visit our Flickr album

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South Texas Botanical Gardens
8545 South Staples 
Corpus Christi TX. 78413
(361)852-2100

http://www.stxbot.org

The Gardens contained many sculptures, this one near the wetland boardwalk