Part II...the Southwest!

Downtown Santa Fe 

Where were we? Right, heading north from White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico to visit old Bethel buds. The back roads among the mountains were a wonderful introduction to the southwest. In Santa Fe we met Ryan and Jitka for dinner and our first taste of New Mexican cuisine. Oooohh baby! 

After the sunny south we were a bit unprepared for the colder mountain temperatures and had to unpack our parkas, hats and gloves for a walk through town. (Sorry no pictures of Ryan!! Trust us, he's very handsome.)

After a great visit with our friends and some awesome travel recommendations, we took off on the 'High Road to Taos' and fell in love with northern New Mexico. 

Desert and mountains of northern New Mexico

Reminded us of Wyoming...

Perhaps I should be more specific: we fell in love with the mountainous desert landscape, the quaint mountain-top villages, the adobe houses that blended so beautifully into the landscape, the vibrant colors, hanging chile bundles (our smart friend, Ryan, who has a chile dealer, advised us these are called ristras), and not least, the stunning turquoise jewelry. 

Northern New Mexico felt very alive to me (Kristy), particulary the adobe pueblos and towns of Taos and Santa Fe. I can’t wait to get my hands dirty with cob construction and design in Oregon!  I expect cob houses will look very similar to adobe in style and appearance. (A major difference between the two is that while adobe involves dried bricks that are then used to build, cob walls are shaped free form from a mixture of clay, straw, water, etc.)

In addition to the adobe, we were also sufficiently inspired by our 2-night stay in a real Earthship! Woo hoo! I spent the past 4 years admiring the design and beauty of earthships via books, movies and internet browsing. I am so thrilled to have finally had the opportunity to actually check out and stay in one myself. (Kevin Morgan, you were there in spirit, friend!) I was not dissapointed, though my photos I’m afraid do not accurately portray the space. 

In a nutshell, an earthship is a super sustainable, thermal mass dwelling that is entirely self-sufficient and off-grid. It’s built into the ground with rammed-earth tire walls, various recycled materials including cans and bottles, and big south-facing windows that usually house gorgeous indoor planters or a greenhouse. Earthships have complex grey water systems, rain catchment and solar panels so that there are literally no utility costs. Pretty impressive, huh. Andrew and I were thrilled that a small fire in the kiva fireplace heated the 800 square foot space perfectly for a few hours in the evening despite freezing temperatures. And actually the fire was probably unnecessary. I doubt the house would have fell much below 60 degrees. The next morning the huge windows warmed the house really well by breakfast. Ahh the beauty of thermal mass. Anyway, you can read more about earthships or check out some better quality photos here. Earthships have been constructed around the world with local and recylced materials. I don’t expect I’ll build one myself, though I will certainly incorporate many of the design principles.

So our time in New Mexico definitely involved many splurges- earthships, jewelry, and the best of all- delicious New Mexican food! It was just too much to resist, especially compared to our typical fare of soup warmed over the propane stove. I don't regret a one of those tasty burritos!

In between chowing down, we stopped for a few hours in Taos Pueblo where the multi-storied pueblo buildings have been inhabited for over 1,000 years. The old pueblo was striking with the dramatic mountains as the backdrop. 

Taos Pueblo

This was actually the same day- snow storm rolling in, but it didn't last.

Before heading west again, we stopped for a couple of nights in Albuquerque with our Czech friend Jitka. She was gracious enough to have held onto a case of jarred salmon for us since October. (Yes, it's been 4 months since we left Bethel for a life on the road...) More great weather greeted us and it was a joy to distract Jitka from all of her studies. (She'll be graduating in a few months with a degree in Landscape Architecture. On my last visit 2 years ago I attended a few classes with her- very interesting!) 

At Jitka's apartment after I snuck in to a yoga class with her.

Ristras!!!!

Jitka took these 3 gorgeous photos above.

There’s just a few more important things I need to mention about New Mexico and our journey there through the south. First, Boyz II Men is performing at a casino somewhere south of Taos on February 10^th. Book your tickets now, ladies. Second, I find it very interesting that the Bible Belt seems to house more adult video stores, gentleman’s clubs and x-rated billboard advertisements than any other location in the states (in my experience anyway). Third, if I'm remembering correctly gas seems to be cheapest in New Mexico. The lowest I saw was $2.98 per gallon unleaded. Fourth, I personally witnessed two Mormon elders on Bourbon Street in New Orleans where, for the record there were many a naked lady dancing in doorways. In fact they were right in the middle of all that action. So I ask- who was saving whom? Fifth, it’s a little strange and wonderful the way we have managed to avoid serious weather patterns on this journey of ours. (I just nocked on wood.) I estimate a total of only 30 minutes of rain during our drives, and no real snow yet either. 

Then again, we’re heading into perfect snow country for this next leg of our trip to the Grand Canyon. But first a visit with our Bethel friends, Louis & Dez on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. Stay tuned...

New Orleans and Beyond

And so we left Enterprise, Alabama to continue our journey west. Good thing too, because a few days later tornadoes touched down in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, all of which we had just finished driving through. Our first stop: New Orleans. It was 80 degrees and muggy when we arrived. Knowing we only had about 12 hours to check things out, we decided to head to the French Quarter. 

We were not disappointed. The architecture and overall feel of this section of the city was truly impressive. In many ways it felt as though we were in a different country. 

We had a fried seafood dinner overlooking Bourbon Street, caught some great live music and had dessert in a fancy hotel where we were able to brush our teeth in the restrooms before bed! As for sleeping quarters, Black Beauty again was the ticket, this time in a public lot along the Mississippi River. Go Tom Sawyer! 

We woke up refreshed and had a small breakfast in a distinctly French café. 

Bourbon Street

After that we booked it across Texas. Literally. We were able to drive nearly 1200 miles in two days, which is a lot for us. 

Reminds us of a Sean Denning-Barnes photo.

We passed through Houston and then spent the night in yet another Walmart parking lot west of San Antonio. West Texas was desolate yet beautiful, and the mountains on the distant horizon revived in us our longing for the wondrous west coast. 

After the long drive across the lonestar state we hit El Paso and also caught a glimpse of one of the most violent places on earth, Ciudad Juarez (if you don’t believe me, gooooogle it). 

At one point about a year ago during the planning phase of our trip I envisioned us driving all the way to South America, and although other, braver souls have indeed taken this route, it was not to be for us. 

El Paso, Texas

We headed north as the sun was setting and arrived in New Mexico in time to locate a sleeping spot for the night, this time on a mountain top overlooking the White Sands Missile Range. We pulled up to a campground only to find it closed. Luckily, the grounds caretaker lived at the entrance and said we could park, free of charge, in his lot. The only catch was that the winds rolling over and down the mountain were gusting to what seemed like 60mph. I think we were probably around 7,000 feet elevation, and we could hear the winds coming for at least 30 seconds before they hit our truck. 

Needless to say it was not the best night’s sleep as there were times I almost felt like the whole truck was going to blow over. We woke early to the wind and decided to just hit the road. We figured we could cook up breakfast at our next stop – White Sands National Monument. After about an hour drive through the barren missile range we arrived at White Sands. The scenery here is simply stunning and entirely unexpected. The rolling white dunes reminded us of the Alaskan winter tundra in a way, and locals were indeed sledding on the dunes to boot! Did you know a few miles north of here is where the U.S. government detonated the first atomic bomb?

Looks totally blue screen edited, right?

Love the contrast of sky and sand.

After a couple hours of hiking and horsing around, we left to drive further north to meet old Bethel friends in Santa Fe and Albuquerque... But we're out of time on our way to the Grand Canyon so we'll try to post Part II as soon as we can in the next few days!

Florida Recap

We arrived in Florida nearly a month ago. We thought we'd stay for a few days at the most. We finally left just a couple of days ago, and we've only made it as far as Alabama. The weather has been awesome, and it's been great to connect and spend time with good friends. In Florida we stayed with friends of mine from college. Matt and Beth live in Cape Coral and have two beautiful daughters, Maddison and Evelyne. It was really wonderful to spend time with their family and get to know the girls a little bit. They are a ton of fun. Kristy and I babysat Evie at least four times. She is too cute and loves to share her food, your food, whatever.

Perfect angels.

Evie sneaking some of Kristy's juice.

Next trick is to bend it Maddie!

Beth made us this bumper sticker - Black Beauty!

The whole famdamly picking fresh Florida oranges.

Kristy and Beth did not plan on being twinsies that day.

Not to be outdone, Matt got Black Beauty this gift.

Ah, spanish moss.

Breakfast in Myakka State Forest.

Matt and Beth also introduced us to a number of their good friends, and we were able to share in some pretty amazing experiences. As mentioned in the last post, we participated in a New Year's Eve sweat lodge. We also met a Qigong master who exposed us to the healing qualities of Himalayan singing bowls and Peruvian whistles. A Shinto priest performed his unique healing touch on us, and Kristy went to a yoga weekend retreat in Ocala National Forest. Talk about a whirlwind of new and amazing experiences. Not to mention we camped in the Everglades, went to the beach more than enough for the sun to kiss our Alaskan white asses, went camping in a Florida State forest where hunters were after wild boar, and we hung some spanish moss off our rearview mirror for good measure. Needless to say Florida treated us well. Many thanks to Matt, Beth, Maddison and Evelyne for hosting us for so long!

This is what greeted us in Alabama. Seriously?

While Kristy was in Ocala for her yoga retreat with Beth, I was able to visit my cousin Jamie in St. Petersburg. He's a little bit older than me and we've only met a few times, but we had a great time reconnecting and visiting his friend's bar where we watched some NFL playoff action. I also met his wife and two kids as well - many thanks to the Piscitella family for putting me up for the night!

And so Kristy and I left Florida to visit yet more former Bethel friends. Mike and Michele and baby Ryker live in Enterprise, Alabama. They moved down last August from Bethel to continue their path in the Army National Guard. Ryker is fifteen months old now and loves to dance to the Black Eyed Peas! (Kristy was honored to be present as a doula-in-training for his birth in Alaska.) We've been here three nights now, soaking up good food and time with friends. Unfortunately it's time to move on. 

Our friends Mike and Michele- they may be Blackhawk pilots
but they're pretty cuddly :-) 

Cutie Ryker

Kristy and I have applied for an exciting farming/natural building/general homesteading internship in Oregon for this spring, summer and early fall. We completed a phone interview and the next step is to head out to Oregon to visit the farm. We have one month to get there, but we still have plenty of things we want to do in the Southwest before we arrive, so it's time for Black Beauty to put the peddle to the metal. Our next planned stop is New Orleans for lunch tomorrow. After that we'll hightail it to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico and then on to see another couple of Bethel friends in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. (Plus, Kristy is dying to spend a night in an Earthship.) But as you know, I'm sure something will tickle our fancy along the way and lead us down yet another unplanned road. Wish us luck!

Tropical Christmas

We're still in Florida. We've tried to leave. At least 4 times in fact. And yet somehow new opportunities keep arising- ones we just can't pass up. It's all been so very synchronistic. But anyway, let's at least start by filling you in with our Christmas, geez it's already been a couple of weeks!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Andrew and I spent 3 nights camping in Everglades National Park. We rented a canoe for a very reasonable cost and paddled between three different keys along the Gulf Coast. No kidding, paddling along felt an awful lot like being on the Kuskokwim! Weren't expecting me to say that right? It was surprising for us too. The mangroves looked like willows and the keys and coast were flat, almost like tundra. See for yourself below:

Tubungaluk river, a narrow Kuskokwim tributary outside of Bethel

Canoeing the Everglades coast- talk about tricky landmark identification...

Haha, you can't really see much in those photos can you? Oh well, you'll have to take my word for it. It was nice to experience a little familiarity on Christmas. Sike! It looked like Bethel for a hot second but let's be real, it was probably at least 120 degrees warmer, which is not exactly what we've been accustomed to! I feel a bit bad about posting these pictures, beloved Bethelites. I know you've had a particularly cold and blustery winter. Last we heard it was -37 (ambient) in Bethel with pipes frozen all over town and school cancelled. Yeah, we're terrible. Sorry. In our defense, we were two of maybe a dozen Alaskans who never vacationed in Hawaii during those cold, long winters. That doesn't really soften the blow does it?

Algae along the beach where tidal differences shape the landscape considerably.

Andrew said I looked like I was going to the races. What can I say? It was $2 from Goodwill and entirely effective.

Is he serious?

Merry Christmas! We were sure in the spirit after a beautiful, starry Christmas Eve night in a tent without the need for a fly- wow, what a concept. I was happy I picked up a star chart a while back. As you can see above though, Andrew got a little too excited with the sunscreen in anticipation of a beautiful day. Apparently he thought it was necessary to rub zinc all over his legs and face (including the beard, friends). Unfortunately, it barely came off- only later that night after a good 20 minutes of frustrated scrubbing with Bronner's. Needless to say, I thought this whole episode was hilarious. 

Couldn't resist one more photo

Even though the mangroves looked a bit like willows on the bank
 from a distance, in actuality, they're altogether different and very beautiful.

Tiger Key where we spent our second night

So the above photo looks like a tropical paradise, right? Almost. There was one little drawback to our stay- actually millions of tiny drawbacks. Yup, you can leave Alaska but apparently not the mosquitos or no-see-ums. Sigh. Andrew and I were nearly eaten alive Christmas night in a  mad dash to erect our tent. From the time the sun dropped below the horizon until it rose the next morning with a sweet breeze, we were trapped in our tiny 2-person tent! So much for the fancy jarred caribou we brought for the occasion- it was tortillas with peanut butter for Christmas dinner along with about 200 bug bites each and a good 2 hours of squashing those little bastards against the side of our tent. I was good about not scratching the bites at first but I reached a limit and lost all control a few days later. These lasting marks aren't permanent scars, right?

Anyway, our last night was much better thanks to a kind breeze on Picnic Key, where our beach spot looked out over the Gulf of Mexico. (We found out the next day upon returning the rented canoe that there are apparently lots of big sharks that like to swim all around this area. Good thing we took only a quick dip!)

So ends our Christmas entry. We hope all of you had a lovely holiday as well!  Love you lots!