White Sands: Part 1

Last weekend, I had the adventure of my life! Seriously, it was the most adventurous trip I've ever taken. I think I have seen it all in this trip with my encounters with the U.S. Border Patrol & Customs, the Holloman A.F.B. (Air Force Base) officers, and even the lifeguards in the swimming pool inside Holloman A.F.B. (no, I didn't drown or anything...).

Let's start with a youth group from church planning a camping trip in White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. Okay, so we departed in two SUV's and were happily on our way to our destination. It was supposed to take only 1 hour and 35 minutes to reach our destination. But we ended up reaching there after 3 hours and 15 minutes!! It wasn't the restroom break that prolonged our trip...it was ME (or should I say the U.S. Border Patrol)!!! At the checkpoint where we were crossing the New Mexico state border, they decided to do a thorough background check on me since I'm an international student. They took my passport and Texas ID to check on me.

So we waited and waited and waited... I felt bad because the whole group had to wait for me. But the group sure knew how to spend their time wisely...check out the pictures:

The girls stood at the junction of the road and got some vehicles to honk as they passed by.

Dancing the Cha-Cha dance.

Some were playing volleyball at an open area at the check point, playing cards, etc... Basically they were having a lot of fun.

Oh, did I mention that we even witnessed a vehicle being inspected thoroughly (we think they suspected that the young drivers had drugs hidden in the SUV or something). The officers even got a small camera that slid in the gas tank to see if they stuffed it in there. Then they checked the engine, air filter, underneath the tires, inside the trunk, and all. But in the end, they found nothing. Here's some pictures as proof:

(We purposely posed at this angle so ya'll can see how they were checking the SUV and all...)



After waiting for over an hour, an officer came by and told me that they've checked on me and I was okay. But they were still waiting for a call back from the FBI to verify my status here!!! OMG!!! So you see, the youth were having fun there but I was almost suffering from a heart attack. Seriously, even when I first came to the U.S. at the US Customs in the LAX Airport, they didn't give me a hard time at all. It took about 15 minutes and I was done. But this time, it took me 1 hour and 40 minutes at this check point. But thank God, I made it and we went on our way to White Sands.

Since we arrived late at White Sands, we couldn't camp at their grounds because we had to set up our tents before 7pm...so we had to look for another camping spot. Before leaving, we did go in and visit for awhile. I must say, White Sands is spectacular! It's definitely one of God's most beautiful and marvelous creation! As the name of the place suggest, it's all about the white sands in there! (Don't you think it looks like snow? But of course, it can't be winter in the midst of summer, right?) We also took the opportunity and went sand duning. It was really fun! My very first time! Scary, at first but later on, I had a blast! It feels good to be young..lolz!

Picture taken as we approached White Sands

Nora and I sitting and enjoying the sunset

The girls trying out different stunts!

I was trying out sand duning for the very first time! hehe!



To be continued...