Missile Park In White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico

White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in southern New Mexico, at nearly 8,300 square km, is one of the largest military installation in the United States. It is primarily a test range with the main function of supporting missile development and test programs for the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), other government agencies and private industry. Like most large military installations in the West, White Sands was created during World War II, officially established on July 9, 1945, one week before the world's first nuclear explosion, the Trinity test. Over the years, most of the missile systems in the U.S. arsenal were tested at WSMR, including the V-2, Nike, Viking, Corporal, Lance and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.



The White Sands Missile Range Museum is located within the premises of the military facility, about 100 km south of the Trinity Site. The missile museum is crammed with information about the origin of America’s nuclear program, its pioneering ventures into space and the development of rockets as weapons, and about the accomplishments of scientists like Dr. Wernher von Braun and Dr. Clyde Tombaugh.

The most fascinating display of the museum is the missile park. It’s an outdoor display of more than 60 different rockets used in combat from WWII to the Gulf War. These include everything from the WAC Corporal and Loon (U.S. version of the V-1) to a Pershing II, a Patriot and the V-2, the world’s first long range ballistic missiles and the first man-made object to reach the fringe of space. The rockets are installed outside the museum building in an acre-sized garden, with most of them pointing towards the sky as if ready to blast off.

Aside from housing a wealth of missile related technology, the museum has sections dedicated to the local flora and fauna, the indigenous peoples who once lived on the land, and a room of paintings by a survivor of the brutal Bataan forced march of WWII, in which up to 10,000 Pilipinos and 650 Americans died at Japanese hands.



























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Top18 Beautiful Flower Fields in the World

Flower fields bloom into stunning landscapes for a short time this season of the year. It doesn’t matter the type of the flower, it can be tulips, sunflowers, lavender and many others, they all complement with their beautiful colours. The fields are so colorful, that definitely are sights every photographer should see. As if someone had spilled paint instead of planting flowers, these flower fields seem like a color palette. Although the most famous place to see flowers is in the Netherlands, you can find amazing flower fields in many places around the world. Below is a selection of the spring’s most spectacular sights, with incredible rainbow-hued fields in bloom all over the world.



1 – Agassiz Tulip Festival, British Columbia – Canada


Agassiz Tulip Festival would be just another field of tulips, but the landscape surround really makes all the difference. It is set against the snow-capped Mount Cheam, in a location with spectacular tulip viewing. The festival showcases 30 varieties of tulips spread over 40 colorful acres.



2 – Hitachi Seaside Park – Japan


Located in Hitachinaka City, Hitachi Seaside Park covers an area of 190 hectares.



It features millions of blooming flowers all year round, such as narcissus and tulip in spring, baby blue-eyes and rose in early summer, zinnia in summer, and kochia and cosmos in autumn.



3 – Sunflower Fields, Tuscany – Italy


One of the most romantic places to see sunflowers is in Tuscany. There are fields all over the area in the height of summer, between medieval villages perched on hilltops.



4 – Keukenhof Gardens – Netherlands


When talking about flowers, Netherlands certainly comes to mind. Located in Lisse, Keukenhof is also known as the Garden of Europe. Approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted annually in the park, forming large colorful rugs in such an abundance of colours found nowhere else in the world.



It’s possible to see the colorful blooms during March, April and May in an area of 32 hectares, which makes it the largest flower garden in the world.



5 – Lavender Fields, Provence – France


The Lavender Route in Provence is an astonishing scenic drive home to some of the most picturesque villages in the country.



Surrounding the route, during the summer, when the plants are in full bloom, it is possible to see fields and fields, with rows and rows of lavender.



6 – Carlsbad Flower Fields, Los Angeles – USA


In spring, Carlsbad Flower Fields cover over 50 acres of beautiful ranunculus flowers.



It displays extraordinary colours along the Carlsbad coast.



7 – Canola Flower Fields, Luoping – China


In Luoping County, from February to March, vast farmlands get covered in golden all the way to the horizon, by the bloom of canola flowers.



Rows and rows of dark mountains in the background beautifully contrast with an unbelievable sea of yellow flowers.



8 – Sakura Tulip Festival, Sakura – Japan


Sakura Tulip Festival is held in Sakura Furusato Park in April. The park is beautifully decorated with 530,000 bulbs of 108 varieties of tulips, in a field with a Dutch windmill in the background. The windmill represents the friendship between Japan and the Netherlands, and it is the only one of this type in Japan. Its presence among tulip fields makes you feel like being in the Netherlands.



9 – Flower Fields – Netherlands


How to talk about flower fields and not to mention the Netherlands. The area between Haarlem and Leiden is regarded as the bulb district, where more than three billion tulips are grown each year.



Like a rainbow, vibrant blues, reds, pinks and yellows sprawl as far as the eye can see



The tulip season begins in March and lasts until August, when the Dutch countryside becomes a sea of tulips.



10 – Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm Festival, Oregon – USA


Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm opens their fields to the public for an entire month, but with more than 50 acres of different types of flowers, there is usually something in bloom.



The festival normally starts at the end of March and runs through late April.



11 – Fuji Shibazakura Flower Festival – Japan


Shibazakura or pink moss is a beautiful flower that blooms in brilliant colors of magenta, pink, and white. Fuji Shibazakura Festival is located in an area that offers breathtaking views of vast fields of shibazakura flowers, with Mount Fuji in the backdrop.



The best time to see these stunning fields of pink moss is from mid May through the beginning of June.



12 – Dubai Flower Garden – UAE


Developed in the middle of the desert, the incredible Dubai Miracle Garden is the world’s largest natural flower garden.



The 72,000-square-meter colorful garden is made of 45 million flowers fashioned into the shapes of hearts, stars, igloos, pyramids, flower-decked vintage cars, arc-shaped walkways and so on.



13 – Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, Washington – USA


Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held annually in April.



Across the 350 acres of fields, grow over 100 varieties of neatly planted colored tulips. Photo by: Kitty Bluhm



14 – Kisosansen Park Tulip Festival, Kaizu – Japan


Kisosansen Park can be enjoyed all year round with its beautiful seasonal flowers. But it is in spring that the park comes alive with the famous Tulip Festival.



In April, the large flower garden is adorned by thousands of tulips arranged in a flowing river style.



15 – Sunflower Fields – Spain


Set among medieval villages in the countryside, the sunflower fields in Spain stretches for miles and turn the landscape in yellow during the summer.



16 – Fields of flowers in Puyallup Valley, Washington – USA


Every spring, Daffodil and Tulip fields transform the Puyallup Valley with a bloom of colours.



The flowers make the Mt. Rainier landscape, in the background, even more magnificent.



17 – Canadian Tulip Festival, Ottawa – Canada


Held annually in May, the Canadian Tulip Festival showcases over 3 million tulips throughout Canada’s Capital Region.



Large displays of tulips are planted throughout the city, and the largest one is found in Commissioners Park on the shores of Dow’s Lake. This amazing event of colour and beauty is North America’s largest tulip festival.



18 – Furano Flower Fields, Hokkaido – Japan


Nakafurano is a town famous for its numerous fields of lavender.



Located in Nakafurano, Farm Tomita is a popular tourist attraction in the summer that plants giant rainbow colour flower fields of lavender, poppies, marigolds and many other varieties




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Snake Island in El Nido Philippines

In the northernmost portion of Palawan in the Philippine archipelago, a group of islands all known collectively as El Nido attracts divers, snorkelers and beach bums all game to hop around its islands. Among the other amazing islands in El Nido, there is one island named Snake Island that grabs attention in the area because of its unique sandbar.



The Snake Island isn’t actually an island infested by snakes (that’s not attractive). Originally known as Vigan island, the Snake Island is one of El Nido’s main attractions for its S-shaped sandbar that stretches across the waters connecting itself to mainland Palawan. The only catch is, you can only step foot on this strip if it’s low-tide.

It is just right behind Bacuit Bay, the home of different marine species, and the white sand beaches of Pangalusian island. It’s 45 minutes away from El Nido town if you’re gonna go there by boat. Once you’re there be sure you’re all geared up with your aqua shoes or flip-flops before walking on the sandbar to avoid stepping on some nasty rockfish. You can swim in both sides of the sandbar and in the end, you can trek to the top to see the entire “snake” and the sea.






















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