I am home. Or at least that’s how I feel. My body is wrapped in the comfort of down blankets at Inn on the Rio in Taos, New Mexico while Hubby reads and we listen to Nick Drake on iTunes.
Taos just makes me feel at peace. It takes very little stretch of my imagination to picture us living here, a large plot of land dotted with scrubby low brush, curling up in front of a traditional Kiva fireplace with Guinness and Bella every night. But the adventures that it took us to get here quickly bring us back to reality.
5/23: Sedona IS a Boom Town
After my post-java optimism in my previous post we spent the morning making dust on a red rock trail in search of Sedona’s infamous vortexes. While we did find beautifully blossoming cacti, helicopter tours interrupted any spiritual endeavors.
After three hours in the sun we toured the Disneyland-like Uptown Sedona (the area includes Pink Jeep Tours and Sedona t-shirts on every block), and the over-priced faux-Spanish tourist shopping center we were told not to miss, we agreed that Sedona was stunningly beautiful and must have been an awesome site, before the shopping centers were developed.
5/24: Another Boom Town
We set out early for what we knew would be a long day of driving from Arizona to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Breaking up the day we detoured through the 225,000 year old Petrified Forest. Hubby was enthusiastic despite my not-so-funny groaners–”It doesn’t look scary to me. What were the trees so afraid of?” (petrified, get it?) The thirty minutes we spent passing through these ancient grounds put our lives, and humanity itself, quickly into perspective. We humans are but a whisper in our planet’s history, making a dramatic effect in a few thousand years, and mostly in the last 100. It is striking what one species can do to a planet, for better or for worse. Petrified? Maybe so.
Once reaching Santa Fe, we successfully hunted a camp ground just outside downtown and built our first campfire of the trip, thanks to the looming clouds and cold winds.
5/25: Santa Cruz Saves the Day!
The night brought a touch of rain and a dead truck battery. My good mood was quickly dashed when Hubby discovered we were deader than a door nail, due to running our little fridge off the battery instead of propane in our highly-sloped campsite. I took our breakfast dishes to the water spigot and chatted up the fella in line behind me, in search of a jump. Tim, as luck would have it, was from Santa Cruz–small world indeed! Tim and his partner Amy gave us a jump that got our car and spirits going. After a little shopping in Santa Fe’s commercial, but elegantly tourist-friendly, downtown we grabbed lunch before hitting the road to Taos.
Our arrival was greeted by seriously stormy clouds and lightening strikes as we traveled past the Rio Grande. We laughed that our visits to Taos always bring inclement weather (last time was snow). I asked Hubby if we were so powerful that we affected Taos, or if it was the other way around. He neglected to answer, but I know it is Taos that holds the true power. Something that cannot be captured, only experienced.
After a visit to the local laundromat and some time in the hot tub I am grounded. I am home. Ship my dogs and cloths, I’m staying! Or at least until Sunday when we head to Mesa Verde and (hopefully) the rustic North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
It’s almost 11pm mountain time, so it’s lights out. Another adventure awaits.