Ride to the Ridge Where The West Commences

Time to Cowboy Up

Yes.  It was time again for the tri-annual (is that every 3 years or three times a year? So confusing) Fowler Family Reunion.  Oh, GOD NO, they say.  She isn't going to tell us about a family reunion is she?  Jeez, it's bad enough we have to go to our OWN...  I will be brief.  Thirty eight years ago, Michael's Mom and her two sisters started these reunions which are held every three years at different locations around the country.  This time we returned to the site of the first reunion in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Over the course of the years the family has bred,  if not like rabbits, at least like Labrador Retrievers and at one or two points we had 80 people there.  Everyone preps by committing to memory whose children belong to whom, who got divorced, who got married and then we get there and all the kids have grown, and people have sprouted beards (mostly men) and you don't recognize them and sometimes just strangers (at least to us) show up further confusing the mix.  Every night one part of the family makes dinner for 60-80 people which is challenging in our age of gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, food allergy prone participants but they just have to cope.

I won't bore you with the particulars but will give you the highlights.  Everyone danced around the political situation thus avoiding homicides or the potential for mass suicide.  Sally crippled her ankle in the hot springs, Chris probably broke his finger, Lizzy got a concussion in 18" of water (Go, Lizzy!), I fell down a slope chasing a waterfall maiming my foot, a kid I don't know was lying on the couch with his leg elevated, and Patricia got bitten by either a scorpion or really bad spider and her foot swelled to the size of a watermelon.  Theresa's family had a bear encounter which resulted in their hiking 14 miles to elude the bear and find their car.  Pretty typical. So, there you have it.  The scenery was spectacular.  We took a ride with Patricia (pre watermelon foot) and Michael on the San Juan Skyway one day and it was one of the best ever -- Pacific Coast Highway caliber but different.  We even saw Ralph Lauren but you don't care about that. Photos follow.

Some of the most dramatic landscape we encountered was in northern New Mexico.

In these two photos the dramatic difference in rock color speaks clearly to the different geologic periods.

This is Echo Amphitheater in northern New Mexico. Our dog Rags was very confused there when we called him to come (come,come,come) 38 years ago.

The view from the top of Mesa Verde.

Mesa Verde National Park protects some of the best preserved Ancestral Pueblo archeological sites in the US.

The first pueblos were built sometime after 650 C.E.

It also has its share of wild animals, such as this turkey.

These more elaborate cliff dwellings date from the end of the 12th century.

This photo gives you an idea of the scale of some of these ancient buildings in relation to the people.

The colorful rocks and caves made for a perfect area to set up the cliff dwellings.

Here Deirdre rests under one of the colorful rocks, which was justly deserved...

as she overcame phobia #1 in descending these steep stairs.

This lizard stopped to pose for its photo as we walked by.

The clouds were very dramatic at this time of year.

It is hard to squeeze everyone into our reunion photos.

We did end up with a hail storm one afternoon.

A newer tradition at the reunions is a blind wine tasting. We ended up with 24 bottles of red and 17 bottles of white for the tasting this year.

Our house was on a little lake with nesting Grebes.

A pair of fox who would visit each morning & evening. Michael: That is a reflection.  Oh no, there really were two,

Even a muskrat or two, obviously looking for some "muskrat love".

The mountains were always impressive...

especially this one that looks like an indigenous American looking up at the sky.

There were hot springs which formed these large calcified cones.

The most impressive scenery however was on the San Juan skyway.

This is Lizard Peak which is over 13,000 feet above sea level.

The San Juan Skyway takes you to Telluride. This is the old Miner's Union building.

This speaks for itself.

Many of the buildings still retain their original character from the late 1800's.

My sister, Patricia, taking a picture of one of the entrance's to Ralph Lauren's 16,000 acre Colorado ranch.

On the ride back on the San Juan Skyway, the mountains were even more colorful.

Even in late July there are still large patches of snow on the mountains.

This toxic stew is the downside of the mining industry in Colorado.

Taos -- Where the 60s Never Ended

After all that togetherness we decided we needed a little aloneness and rented a casita in Taos, N.M. As we drove down the dead end street to our pied a terre we passed the local Ashram. Yes, Ashram. It was a very popular place with many people looking like they just escaped from the Beatles Indian period.  I thought I saw a sitar.  The 60's vibe has been enhanced by modernization via tattoos and elaborate body piercings.  You get the drift.  There is no junk food. Lots of highly organic kale.

Pictures of our delightful casita.

The sign for the ashram next door.

Taos was an out there place even before the hippies arrived.  Artists started hitting town shortly after the locals "pacified" the Indians.  We saw a LOT of Pueblos on this trip.  Somehow, I miraculously was cured of phobia #1 (acrophobia) and scampered like a mountain goat down steep inclines, across perilous cliff paths and endured high speed drives over paralysis-inducing mountain passes.  But I digress.  The Pueblo in Taos has been continuously inhabited for 1,500 years.  Today, the families of the Pueblo retain their houses in the original Pueblo without water or electricity but also have a modern house off the immediate pueblo area.  While many reservations suffer from intense poverty, the ones we saw looked quite nice.  This is probably due to the zillions of casinos that are sprinkled through the West.  It appears that the denizens of the West have QUITE a gambling problem.  I mean there are casinos everywhere and at 7AM you drive by and the parking lot is half full.  Ditto 11AM and 3PM.

We went from 1,500 year old Pueblos to the land of the future when we visited Project Earthship. While not abducted by aliens, the setting was such that you'd believe you had been.  Pictures are key here but let me give you the background.  This eccentric guy Michael Reynolds decided that he could build houses out of old tires, dirt, soda cans and wine bottles.  Since these all exist in vast amounts in deprived areas of the world (well, maybe not the wine bottles) this architecture offers great advantages in cost and the design is totally ecologically friendly.  So here is what you do.  You take tires and you fill them with dirt and you smash the dirt down really hard.  Then you layer the tires from the foundation up.  The tire construction is insulating and you don't need heat or air conditioning.  And rainwater is collected and routed through the house and the greenhouses and the plants and is used four times (the last to flush the toilet) before it is FINALLY released to the septic tank.  There is a whole community of these houses around Taos.  You can even rent them should you be so inclined.  The cost per square foot starts at $120 but we don't know if that is if you pound your own dirt or hire it out.  It seems a little high for old tires but you have no utility bills it is said. Here is the link to the website if you are dying to know more:  www.earthship.com  On the way to Earthship we crossed the Rio Grande Gorge.  Once again proving my defeat of phobia #1 I walked to the middle of the bridge alone and peered down 650 feet to the Rio Grande River. Then I made Michael take me for a glass of wine.  Well, I'm ALMOST cured.  Beyond this we saw haciendas and muchos museums but enough of all that.  Now for the return to Mexico.

One of the first places we visited in Taos was the Millicent Rogers Museum.

Millicent was a New York socialite, fashion icon and art collector who moved to Taos in 1947.

While living in Taos, Millicent purchased more than 2,000 Native American artifacts.

This cross was inlaid with straw, which was known as the "poor man's gold".

This is known as a Zambullo door, derived from the Spanish verb zambullir --- "to duck" (one's head). Due to the scarcity of metal, rather than a metal hinge the door pivots on an extended piece of wood at the top and bottom of the door, called a spindle & pindle respectively.

Millicent was also a champion  of Native Americans, and lobbied successfully for Native American art to be classified as historic and therefore protected.

An example of one of the iconic fashion designs of Millicent.

A portrait of Millicent Rogers.

Some of the amazing structures of Project Earthship.

We dubbed this the Darth Vader helmet, only in silver.

This allows you to see the recycled tires with rammed earth and the recycled bottles embedded in the wall.

This shows the water collection system on the roof...

which diverts the water through a filter and into a cistern.

Solar panels...

a south facing greenhouse...

and a wind turbine all are part of the "off the grid" concept.

The structures can vary significantly in their design, but all have a very modernistic flair.

The swift current of the Rio Grande flowing through the gorge.

A view of the Rio Grande Gorge from the bridge.

Several crisis hotlines were placed on the bridge. 

This was one of the rooms of the Martinez Hacienda built in 1804.

Notice the "fancy" chandelier.

This bed & cradle were located in the cocina (kitchen) and used during the winter.

This was a pack saddle, which was designed to prevent the saddle and load from shifting forward on downward descents or backwards on upward ascents.

A hand tooled leather saddle.

I am not sure if this was supposed to be "lightning" or if it was meant to describe the bleaching properties of the moonshine.

The Martinez Hacienda Museum also contained some elaborate quilts, such as this one.

This "death cart" was used by a group known as the Penitentes and was hauled through the streets during Semana Santa (Holy Week) to remind the people of their mortality. Note the bow & arrow on the skeleton.

The old bell tower of the church in the Taos Pueblo. It now sits in the graveyard. The church was destroyed during an uprising by the Taos Pueblans in 1847 because they did not want to become a part of the United States.

A communal oven.

The new church on the Pueblo, which is the oldest continually inhabited communities in the US, having been constructed between 1000 & 1450 C.E.

Two views of the multi-story Pueblo.

The door of this house in the Pueblo shows that they have now accepted being part of the US. The doors are a recent addition. Initially all entries were through the roof via ladder, for defensive purposes.

The sleeping dog on the street reminded us of Ajijic.

On our way to Angel Fire we encountered this deer by the side of the road, who was not fazed by our presence.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park is located in Angel Fire.

It was started by a doctor whose son was killed in Viet Nam.

We also visited the Blumenschein Home & Museum in Taos.

The Blumenschein's were artists, who settled in Taos. This is an example of one of Mary's illustrations.

This is one of Ernest's paintings. Ernest, along with Bert G. Phillips were on a sketching trip from Denver to northern Mexico when the wheel of their surrey slipped into a deep rut and broke. Due to this fortuitous accident, Taos became a great American art colony.

The exterior garden & entrance to the house.

We also visited Santa Fe, which is also know for its artwork & public sculptures.

The miracle staircase in the Loretto Chapel. To learn more about this visit www.lorettochapel.com/staircase.html.

A statue dedicated to Native Americans outside the Saint Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe.

The entrance to the Cathedral...

and a statue to Saint Francis.

South to the Border

Alex, younger son, had decided to accompany us on our return to Mexico so that he could further investigate the leather business and spend some quality time now that he had bid adieu to his employer who is, he thinks, in Hawaii.  He drove all day and night from LA and ended up sleeping in an Albertson's parking lot when he couldn't find our casita.  He rested up for a day and then we all piled in the Subaru (yes, the Brown One returns to Mexico) and headed for the border.  We needed to get Alex a tourist visa and a vehicle sticker so stopped in El Paso to accomplish these simple tasks.

You don't have to be out of Mexico long to forget what is involved in completing a simple task.  We enter the border immigration office.  There are two lines.  One has about 30 people in it being serviced by a single clerk.  The other line (vehicles) has only three people in line and two clerks.  We reach the front of line 1 (1/2 hour) and receive a blank visa form of which, it turns out, I have four in my luggage.  We ask the agent (who speaks English thank God) what we have to do.

He says: "Step One- fill out the form, Step two go stand in Line 2"  I ask what Step 3 is.  He says, "I can't tell  you Step Three."  We stand in Line 2.  Now there are 20 people in this line and only one agent.  We get to the head of Line 2 (1/2 hour).  We pay for the vehicle sticker.  Now I know why Agent 1 wouldn't tell me Step 3.  It is because we now have to go BACK to Agent 1 showing him that we have paid.  I am sure many Americans have tried to impress on him the inefficiency of the system and he has learned to only tell them Step 2.  We get to the front of Line 1 (1/2 hour or so) immediately behind a family of twelve all being processed simultaneously at the little window.  By now, we have wised up and Alex has deduced we will be sent back to Line 2 AGAIN so I stand in Line 2 while he deals with Line 1.

Now he needs copies from the little copy window man.  I have been watching the little copy man from my vantage point in Line 2.  He does three people and disappears for a cigarette.  He does three more and disappears into oblivion.  And so it goes.  Eventually, the copies appear (1/4 hr).  Michael has called us three times unable to comprehend what is happening even though he has lived in Mexico for over four years.  Finally, both of us are back in Line 2.  There is a strange man in a blue T-shirt with a cigarette tucked behind his ear a la James Dean who motions certain people to accompany him to a back room or to form another line (thus jumping line).  He then tries to get them to the agent in front of the docile, official Line 2 inmates.  Line 2 finally rebels and the T-shirt guy is forced to retreat.  We eventually get to the agent (3/4 hr ---the line now extends out the door) and pay a $400 guarantee that we will remove the Brown Subaru from Mexico within 6 months. Why we couldn't pay the guarantee with the original vehicle payment is anyone's guess.  I no longer ask questions like that.  After that, the rest of the trip was a breeze.  We have now driven three routes into or out of Mexico and have had no problems.  So, all our worried friends, fear not.

Time To Take A Rest

We're staying home.  We swear.  At least for a while.  September and October are fun months in the little Village and until then we plan on sleeping and not much else.  We'll keep you posted when we wake up.