Have you ever looked at pictures of Instagram influencers frolicking in the sands of Dubai and wanted to live out all of your Lawerence of Arabia dreams? Have you ever dreamed of curling your toes in the sand, but realized you don’t have a sugar daddy to buy you an Emirates ticket? Well as a self-described duneophile (yes ladies and gentlemen I am addicted to sand dunes) I have the perfect place for you with a much lower ticket price.
White Sands National Monument is a national park located in the Tularosa Basin in New Mexico. What you will notice first is the magical stark white dunes that get their color because the dunes themselves are made up of gypsum crystals. Coming here is like stepping into your wildest Southwestern dreams. The white dunes meet the crystal blue sky speckled with Yucca plants make for truly one of the most Instagramable places on Earth.
I drove the 4 hours here from Santa Fe (another place that will make your Instagram feed rival any influencer), however, if you don’t want to drive 4 hours through a Georgia O’Keeffe painting, I suggest flying into El Paso, TX and driver the 1.5 hours to the national park.
* Before you think of me as a dense social media obsessed idiot, please know these entries are made to be fun. Of course I don’t encourage people to go to a place because it makes for a good picture, but you would be lying to yourself if you didn’t admit there are people like this out there (if you are one of those no shame here). I love traveling and seeing new and unique places; it’s just an added bonus that they look like something you would find on the discovery page on Instagram. Honestly at the end of the day if you are getting out of your routine, going to see something new and different, and maybe learning something along the way why does it matter why you went there in the first place?
