On a whim, we decided to go for a drive after dinner to Sunspot, the location of the National Solar Observatory. We knew that the Observatory would be already closed, but the thought of an evening drive through the Sacramento Mountains was too strong to ignore.
To get to Sunspot, we had to first drive through Cloudcroft again, and go even higher, to 9200 ft above sea level. When we went through Cloudcroft a few days ago, I was excited to see little patches of snow, where the sun had not melted it.
Imagine my surprise, when we left Cloudcroft, we ran into snow everywhere! We even took Luna out for her first snow walk. Yep, that's Dave, in shorts and flip flops, playing in the snow.
To get to Sunspot, we had to first drive through Cloudcroft again, and go even higher, to 9200 ft above sea level. When we went through Cloudcroft a few days ago, I was excited to see little patches of snow, where the sun had not melted it.
Imagine my surprise, when we left Cloudcroft, we ran into snow everywhere! We even took Luna out for her first snow walk. Yep, that's Dave, in shorts and flip flops, playing in the snow.
Even better than the snow were the herds of elk and deer that we saw everywhere.
The snow vistas were incredible
We visited a part of Cloudcroft we missed the other day and saw the moon rise over the treetops ...
We saw Sierra Blanca, the highest mountain in this area at over 11,000 ft. The rain we had yesterday gave Sierra Blanca a new dusting of snow.
Coming back down the mountain during dusk gave us some beautiful sunset pictures.
As we got back into Alamogordo, we saw the carnival lit up. We hope to see it this weekend!
It pays to mix it up and get out at different times of the day!