With that mission accomplished, our next stop was at the Visitor Center where I purchased our third Christmas ornament of the trip, another sunset desert scene, but this time with very vibrant colors and some glitter! I stayed inside in the air conditioning while Chris walked through the cactus garden outside. While waiting for Chris, I saw a family of five at the counter talking to one of the rangers and thought I recognized the man’s voice and accent (French). And sure enough, it was the family from White Sands who had loaned us one of their sleds! We chatted with them briefly (well, him really, it seemed the wife and children didn’t speak English). We talked about where else we had been and were going to. We found out they were on a four-month-long trip, and that they were headed to San Diego soon, same as us! We thanked them again and wished them a great time for the remainder of their trip.

We then went back to our previously staked-out campsite, and enjoyed a nice sunset.