“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing.

Yet, through the silence something throbs, and gleams...”

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

I sent this message to my husband the first time I visited this amazing place. It came from the heart, unfettered, and without revision. I thought I’d share it with you:

“My ears love the quietness - but even though the desert seems silent, it has a voice. At times the wind will tell me its stories; the sand will accompany it, sometimes gentle, sometimes wild, and sometimes with the faint sound of a cricket chirping.

My eyes admire the vastness of the sand dunes. They make for powerful compositions in a very simple way, but, if you look closer, you realize there’s an infinite deluge of patterns and shapes so complex that it seems not to be true.

The sun circles around, the light changes, and so too does the desert. The sky’s colors change from purple, pink, yellow, and orange to blue, red, tangerine, and violet… 

Even though the place feels still, it is in a state of constant change and motion.I can feel the desert - the gentle breeze soothes my face, the sand tickles my skin, and the sun scorches me. I can smell the desert. At first, it seems odorless, but then I begin to smell the dust and the sand that is in  the air. I am all at once intrigued by the desert’s simplicity and calmness, but a little unsettled as well. This is a place where truth can be found.” 

- Jennifer