Earthships, Earth dwellings, 21st Century Taos

Taos is a place that's hard to wrap your mind around. We stayed right in town at the beautiful bed & breakfast inn called the Posada de Taos, with people from as far as Argentina, and as close as Albuquerque. A peaceful, quiet spot, a base to explore bookstores, art galleries, museums, wabi-sabi stores, bombarding our senses from many directions.

Our last night in Taos we spent in the middle of the desert in an Earthship -- the model of sustainability in dwellings, built of recycled tires stuffed with sand, recycled bottles and cans, and finished with adobe. Solar powered, with collected water in cisterns used three times, first for drinking, then washing and plants, then plumbing. We walked the desert that night looking up at the big sky with the designs of Earthships resembling Spaceships more than anything else. The moon was waxing, near full. . . . next stop Santa Fe.

Amazing Taos

Taos . . . . the pueblo that continues its traditions into the 21st Century, Tewa people reclaiming their land and living the culture of sustainability centuries before it hit the radar of those who came to threaten their peace. . . . the light and air that drew artists and writers to this land, and continues to draw visitors such as ourselves to experience its beauty.

The Road to Taos

Along the road to Taos, situations and characters materialized --
encounters we can't explain. . . .or don't want to.

Mesa Verde Mountain Camp

Four beautiful 80 degree days, and 38 degree nites camping in Mesa Verde!! Climbing up and down canyons, up ladders 32 feet high with nothing but 2,000 feet of canyon behind us -- the awe of being inside these ancient dwellings was an experience worth every bit of imagined hardship (and sheer terror, if you are afraid of heights like me [E.])!!!! We studied the star charts by day and by our campfire and the light of the half moon found Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, Arcturus and Draco the Dragon.

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly has been home to the Navajo continuously for hundreds of years, and its peacefulness and beauty totally enchanted us. We hiked to the bottom of the canyon -- a two and a half mile roundtrip journey, and spent a couple of hours there writing, drawing.

Camping the Grand Canyon

We arrived in the Grand Canyon and saw this elk, saw a coyote walking across the highway, and heard coyote thru the tent walls at night. Next morning walked to the edge of the Canyon at dawn, where people from all over the world were taking photos and marveling.