White Sands is. White. And there's a lot. Of sand. As in, white sand.
Whee!
For what it's worth, probably the best way to get through Southern New Mexico is a) grit your teeth and just rip along the interstate at 80 mph; b) deviate into the mountains and see places like Cloudcroft; go extremely slowly; arrive at your eventual destination after eating all the green chile you can stand.
Every time I've been heading north through that neck of the woods, I haven't stopped to see the scenery very often as I know it'll be much better in Colorado. But then, there's a bowl of green and some sopapillas...