8/16/2017 2 Comments NM-The Land of "Entrapment"New Mexico. It's the state where my family's story began. It's where I found my love of adventure and where I met my husband. Naturally, our 16 month old daughter needed to see the place where her parents met. We embarked on our journey in our Family Truckster and headed west at the end of April. We expected cold, but were hoping for clear weather. After 2 days of driving, we arrived at the Big Tesuque Campground north east of Santa Fe. A free site, a little close to the road, but beautiful none the less. After waking up the second night to a few inches of snow, we hurried down the mountain for breakfast in Santa Fe. Eat at Tia Sophia's. So. Dang. Good. The plan was to stay at another free site in the National Forest, but after finding that all gates were locked and considering the snow was still coming down, we got a room Cuba, NM. You have to be flexible when traveling with a child. The next morning, we made our way to Chaco Canyon, after filling up with breakfast burritos and coffee. Chaco Culture National Historic Site is extremely isolated making it an International Dark Sky Park. We had every intention of getting Milky Way photos here, because of the dark skies and because of the suspected importance of astrology to the ancestral Pueblo people. We spent our second day hiking the remnants of the ancient city. In places, you are able to go below and walk through the short doorways. It's an amazing place. Unfortunately, our stay at Chaco was cut short, and we were unable to get star photos, due to an unexpected 2 hour ambulance ride. Like I said, you have to be flexible when traveling with a child. The next couple of nights were spent in hotel rooms tending to our sick child. We were still able to explore some via the Family Truckster and our Deuter baby backpack. The drive from Farmington to Taos was gorgeous. We ran into a snow storm that closed some of the passes north east of Taos (this is the first of May), but arrived with the snow on our heels. Taos is one of my favorite towns. Art galleries, history, amazing food, great beer, and a landscape that will take your breath away. We checked into Earthship Biotecture. If you don't know what an Earthship is look it up. Architect Michael Reynolds developed this housing design to be a totally self-suficient house. Our goal in life is to build one, so we saved our pennies and decided to stay in one to see how we liked it. Let's just say we LOVED it. We rented the Lemuria for 4 nights and really just wanted to move in. It was easily cooled and heated, it's grey water is recycled to water the vegetables that are growing in the solarium, and the solar panels provide all the electricity we needed. It was cozy and, to sound really corny, it felt right. On one of our last days, we made the drive through Angel Fire, Eagle Nest, and Cimarron Canyon to Philmont Scout Ranch. It's a very special place to us. It's where Homestud and I met, where I gained many close friends, and where I fully developed my love of adventure. I'm kicking myself right now, because for some reason I totally forgot to get a family photo. Rookie mistake. After eating lunch, we headed to the Valle Vidal in Carson National Forest. Off of Hwy 64 you turn onto FS 1950, which is a well maintained gravel road. You travel along private land until you reach the FS unit. Tons of elk were out and about. We didn't travel the entirety of FS 1950 because of gas and time, but next time we will plan a day out of it. FYI, they close some gates at certain times of the year for elk breeding. Call the ranger district before you go. It's a really beautiful area. New Mexico is indeed the Land of Enchantment, but you could also call it the Land of "Entrapment." It calls you back time and time again. I can't get enough of this state, the chile, the people, and, man the scenery just keep drawing me to this place. Even though this trip did exactly go as planned (again, you must be flexible while traveling with children) it was a memorable one and one I wouldn't trade for anything. Till (hopefully) next year, New Mexico. Adios.
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