The route from Las Cruces to White Sands National Monument took us on US-70, with mountains much closer to the road than on I-10 yesterday.  We crossed St.. Augustin Pass in the Organ Mountains at 5,719 feet before arriving at White Sands, which backs up to the San Andres Mountains.

We paused to visit the "rocket park" at White Sands Missile Range.  The range was founded in 1945 and is operated by the U.S. Army.  Within a week after its establishment, the first atomic bomb was test detonated at its northern boundary.  The rocket park displays a collection of ballistic and explosive weaponry from World War II to the present, including a replica of the "fatman" hydrogen bomb.  Also on exhibit is a V-2 rocket, a German weapon confiscated at the end of World War II.

Leaving White Sands, we continued east to the city of Alamagordo, where we checked in to the local Fairfield Inn before heading out to visit the National Solar Observatory 40 miles away, in the fittingly named Sunspot, New Mexico, in the Sacramento Mountains.  Founded in 1947, its mission, as must be obvious, is to observe and study the sun.

After a two-hour round trip, we had learned nothing more because it was closed today.  Considering that today was Thanksgiving, we consulted the observatory's web site and listened to a recorded phone message, both of which reported that the facility was "open every day."  Apparently, that doesn't apply to holidays like Thanksgiving, when it is most definitely closed.

Tomorrow we'll continue east and enter the expansive state of Texas.

No Tropics, No Problem.  Before leaving Las Cruces this morning, we tracked down a few letterboxes including one planted near some unusual palm trees.  Part of the city public art program, these trees could even "grow" in Alaska.