Final days

We left the earthship Friday and took the very long way back to Albuquerque -- the high road from Taos to Sante Fe and the Turquoise Trail from Sante Fe to Albuquerque. At the bottom of this post is a photo of me standing by the Rio Grande gorge north of Taos. There is a lovely trail along the edge. Shara and I were able to take a quiet walk together while the girls hung out at the Earthship on Thursday night. We ended our trip Saturday at a flea market in Albuquerque where, not surprisingly, we found virtually everything we had purchased elsewhere for a fraction of the cost.

The Earthship

It's not easy to describe the place we stayed after Taos. There is a utopian community northwest of Taos across the Rio Grande that is a series of structures essentially made out of tires, bottles, cans and mud. They face south to absorb the heat. They tend to have greenhouses that are not entirely separate from the living space in the back. The back is under a mound of earth. These places are entirely off the grid -- solar powered and heavily reliant on the natural heating and cooling of the desert. Our unit was called the Phoenix, and it was far more expansive than the prototype. It include a Koi pond, cockatiels flkying around and even a lizard that likely feast on the flies that do get in. Bottles in the wall give it a stained glass feel. The heat is moist because of the ponds. Above is the view from our bedroom. If you look closely you can see Shara on the far right brushing her teeth in the bathroom. Below to the left is Lulu sitting in her bedroom looking out if the greenery, which crawls right into the house. Even if you don't want to stay here, it's less than 30 minutes north of Taos and well worth a visit.