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

2 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