Category: Destinations

White Sands. N.M

Around 15 years ago my path took me to New Mexico. I was there wooing my future wife. During this time we got a chance to see many of the natural sights of the Southwestern area of the USA. One of these was White Sands

NPS map of White Sands National Park

It is a spectacular dune field made up of around 4.1 billion tones of gypsum sand that cover an area over 200 sq. miles. In the past the area was a much different place. It had lakes, streams, wild animals and people.

Recent studies of footprints found in the area seem to suggest that people were in the area as far back as 23,000 to 21,000 years ago. This finding would push back the date of when humans arrived in North America by about 5,000 to 7,500 years.

NPS Photo of footprints

It is cool to know that during our visit back in 2006 that we were following the footsteps of these early people who were out walking their own path …

Images from my 2006 visit to White Sands

The first step on a new path …

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

Lao Tzu

Life is a journey, make of many steps down many paths.

Some people reach a point in life where they may question are they on the right path? Some may not, continuing their travels down a road in oblivion to where they come from, what is their destination? Some may stop, look around and be afraid.

I probably did all of these at various times in my life but I don’t recall that I consciously making the decision to pick a new path. Now in my semi-aware state, the first question I ask myself after stopping and looking around, is how the heck did I end up here? The second, which path to take?


The easy answer to the first is to say by sheer good luck! However I’m old enough (52 at the time of writing this) to know that is just a facetious and superficial answer. There were a multitude of factors and forces that lead me to the place where I am today. I hope in the future to explore some of them, but for the moment I’m just happy to be able to look around and savor the many paths around me …