Wednesday, November 19, 2014

one month later to the day

the Being Places blog 

is back by popular demand

that is 
the secret (mine) number of friends who had to beg me to blog again
has been reached

so welcome back and I missed you too!!

this is a good design for the blog
cause I am going places this year!


so first let me catch you up on the my last trip
New Mexico and Portland, Oregon

odd combination but it made sense at the time.......

I went to Abiqui, New Mexico to stay in a little cabin on the mesa
for a sort of soul retreat

I was totally happy with my planning -

fly into Albuquerque, rent a car, stay in an adorable cabin in someone's yard 
(Airbnb I love you)
right near the food coop where the next morning I could load
up a cooler with good food before heading out

the best part of Albuquerque was having breakfast with an old friend
and meeting her adorable family






so proud of her


after a long day in the saddle
well ok actually a nice rental car
we come to Prado Valley Ranch


 I had never been there before and I was nervous about the road


the road followed the river and it looked like the river
had recently taken over the road


 several culverts had washed out


I asked what time of year this river runs - 
it doesn't was the answer,
only when it rains
and about a month before I got there they had a record monsoon


about a mile in is the gate, so far so good


then this steep up hill with a curve at the top
holy crap

I took tons of photos cause I knew no one would believe how scary it was
and none of the photos show how scary it was
to the left is a drop off and the ruts were knee deep
really dry gravel wanting to slide you off
good thing I had SUV

(side story - I did not want an SUV
I wanted the car I had reserved but they did not have it
balloon festival in Albuquerque and they only had one
red SUV left - they gave it to me for the same price)

I could not have made it up with a regular car
it is one of those examples of the universe giving you what you need
instead of what you asked for....

there


 ahead in the golden distance are the cabins



adorable 200 sq' hand-made papercrete cabins

http://www.instructables.com/id/I-Love-Papercrete/
  






 it was like being in a Georgia O'Keeffe painting


 I loved it right away


sunset on my first night



 this was the one I stayed in


very comfy


the walls had mica in the paint and they sparkled!


nice hand-made fireplace


the other little house was nice too


equally well crafted adobe fireplace


and view


 really powerful views 


in all directions

I loved it there
walk, read, eat, repeat

so quiet, so dark, so peaceful

but I was needed in Portland
to help a friend start moving out of her home of 20 years
due to a cruel divorce

Albuquerque to Portland, why you are almost here
she said

and that is another post.....

my deepest gratitude to those friends who care about this blog
and it's blogger
for believing in me and reviving my will to blog

I guess I just love to share


xxoo