Get to know New Mexico's White Sands, the country's newest national park
WHITE SANDS NATIONAL PARK, N.M. - I didn't expect to be hugged today, let alone three times. And by strangers. But that's what happened after I snagged one of the 10 coveted campsites at White Sands National Monument last October, then offered to share it with some people who just missed the cut.
None of us knew that, weeks later, White Sands would become the country's newest national park. Defense legislation signed Dec. 20 by President Donald Trump included a provision to turn this national monument into the 62nd national park, putting it among the likes of the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone.
But on this fall day in southern New Mexico, national park designations weren't on any of our minds. What was:
