This post will attempt to capture our couple weeks bouncing around in the southwest. Or, as we came to describe it, letting our little piñon seed blow where the wind would take it. Picking up on the joyful spontaneity we experienced in Texas, we decided to let “yes” enter the chat and we allowed ourselves the flexibility to see where we ended up. We knew our general direction (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah), and we had a rough timeline, but we decided to let weather, whimsy, and conversations with fellow travelers guide us more than a rigid, pre-planned itinerary.

New Mexico was one of those states I’ve always wanted to spend time in, but until this trip just could not make it happen. Sure I’ve passed through it a few times, but always rushing to get to the other side. I never baked in enough time to experience it. And it’s never been an easy state to get to for any kind of spontaneous trip. The flights always seemed too expensive, too many connections. But it’s always held such an allure to me, and this trip I was determined that we would spend some time in the Land of Enchantment. We rolled into Santa Fe on April 21, to a really charming little one bedroom casita with the most important feature needed at this point: a washing machine. We set to business of doing the mountains of laundry and the other van chores that are now part of our routine. In the evening we walked to the downtown area and were lucky enough to get into Cafe Pasquale’s. The meal was delicious, the staff were kind, and whole vibe was just cool. The next day I reserved us tickets to Meow Wolf, the original location of this incredible interactive art installment that has to be experienced rather than explained. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves, playing and exploring. In one of the rooms I found a token and put it in my pocket. At some point we were resting under a tree on a hummock of soft, pillowy fabrics. I noticed that right next to us was the arcade, and that they had the old school Ms Pac Man that Larry loves so much. I remembered my found token and was so excited to give it to Larry that I rushed up in a fit of glee! Too much excitement, too much rushing, not enough looking. I missed a step, tripped, and landed hard. Something in my ankle popped. It was bad. It started swelling immediately. I sat for a long time. Eventually the shock wore off and I could hobble, but it felt awful and we knew we were done with the event. We got home and I elevated and iced. It felt like this was the record scratch moment of our travels. While I felt relatively sure it was not broken, I was not so sure how bad it might be. A roll? A twist? A sprain? It was swollen and deeply bruised, but it was responding well to ice. We were both mentally unwinding the trip if I was badly injured and taking it little by little. We’d start small. Take-out for dinner, keeping off my ankle, Larry doing all the re-packing of Louie and all of the driving.

The next day the ankle was showing signs of improvement. I could bear more weight tho it still really hurt and felt compromised. It was time to check out of the airbnb. We employed our whimsy to fit the situation and headed to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado with Larry doing all the driving, and with me keeping my foot elevated and iced. On the way we stopped in Chimayo, a special site for many people. It was beautiful and it has sacred dirt that people/pilgrims are allowed to take. There was also a Christian church with holy water. So in an effort to heal however quickly I could I applied the sacred dirt to my ankle. I rubbed holy water on it too, applying the old adage of spit and rub some dirt on it. As we continued on our way we stopped at Taos to tour the Earthship community, and we passed the Rio Canyon Gorge, one of the highest bridges in North America. Our last minute reservation at Great Sand Dunes turned out to be in an excellent spot for watching a stunning sunset over the dunes.

The next morning, Larry took an incredible hike up into the sand dunes. I stayed back taking care of the ankle. A steep hike in deep sand didn’t sound like the best idea for me, but it was a terrific one for Larry. He had a great time and took a ton of pictures. While he was hiking I did a little research along our next route and found Black Rocks hot springs in the Rio Grande. The last time we had a chance to soak in a mineral spring in the Rio Grande we both felt amazing afterwards. Many people claim the hot springs are healing, so off we went to soak our bodies (and specifically my ankle) in the magic mud. We had a great time soaking with about a dozen other people. We thought we might head back to Albuquerque but our new friends advised against it, so the piñon seed blew instead back into a different part of New Mexico. While the soak was amazing, it was also quite muddy and we hadn’t really thought the filthy part through. We comically used baby wipes back at the van to get the worst of it off and then we went to our next camping area, a Harvest Host parking lot. Black Mesa Winery was hopping when we arrived. Live music, a taco push cart, and a ton of locals enjoying the offerings. We made new friends yet again (shook the hand that shook the hand of Robert Duvall) and this time we were blown to Ghost Ranch.

We enjoyed the petroglyph trail behind our Harvest Host. Then we made our way to Ghost Ranch by way of the Georgia O’Keeffe welcome center, which had an excellent outdoor art installation. We also refilled our water thanks to Larry’s charms at Abiquiu Lake. Ghost Ranch was stunning scenery. We very much enjoyed the amenities, especially the hot shower and the free ice for my ankle, which was healing nicely thanks to all the woo woo, the careful handling, the ice and elevation, prior conditioning, and I am quite certain, pure luck. We had an early dinner and then walked up a mesa to enjoy the views at sunset. 

After Ghost Ranch we arrived at Baldelier National Monument and we explored it gently on my healing ankle. While in the area we made an attempt to see the Acoma Sky City, but we were too late. That day thee winds were severe and driving was really hard. We finished our day at another harvest host, Rt 66. Junkyard Brewery where we had some beer, some BBQ, played pool, chatted with fellow patrons and travelers in perhaps the most unique camp site we’ve had to date.

When we left the junkyard we headed to the Petrified Forest National Park.Wood turned to stone is simply crazy. We explored a few trails before getting back on the road. Our next destination: Carefree, Arizona. Picked solely for its name and convenient location. I mean! Could there be a more perfectly named town to drift into? On our way we drove through Tonto National Forest with incredible scenery (pine forests, saguaro cacti, craggy mountains). We landed in Carefree, AZ on a charming horse ranch. We intended to hold still for four nights, but it was so wonderful we extended to five. The ranch was as neat as a pin, so tidy, so welcoming, so beautiful. It seriously looked like a movie set. And After a week of bouncing from one stop to another each night, it was lovely to be stationary for a bit. The area of Carefree (and its sister city Cave Creek) had a lot to recommend it. It had an excellent YMCA with a great lap pool. It had an excellent public library which was super comfortable, welcoming, and inviting, both inside and out. And on Wednesdays and Fridays it has a mini rodeo at a local institution, the Buffalo Chip. So of course, for our last night in Carefree we treated ourselves to the spectacle. The next morning it was time to move on.

(Continued in the next post. Photos currently limited due to capacity limits with current data plan)