Taos, Earthships, and More

 

A view from the trails.

Erin continued to guide us the mountains so we could get the best vistas and they did not disappoint.

Along the trails, we would see the remains of elk which had been taken down by predators, most likely mountain lions.

Ari waiting for Erin to arrive.

We had the good fortune to have Erin guide us on the trails three days in a row. We would ride for about two hours - which is about as long as my foot could take it. The last 30 minutes of each ride I was thinking mostly how good it would feel lying in bed icing the foot. But, I am hoping to work up to longer rides so that by the time we hit the Dakotas I am in good shape.

Me and Erin - Erin's horse is named Ace

Ari and me

Check out the view behind us

Both horses are very relaxed here and enjoying their time in the forest

This is a wind turbine that provides electricity to the building.

For Mother's Day, we took a day off from riding and went to play tourist. We started the day with a stop at the Earthships Colony outside of Taos.

It costs $8 per person for a self-guided tour. Visitors can also rent an earthship for a couple of nights to get the full experience.

The visitors center has several displays as well as videos outlining the philosophy behind using upcycled materials to build the houses, using straw bales, glass bottles, aluminum cans, used tires, and other materials, relying on solar and water gathering techniques so each house is "off the grid".

The main architect of the colony has written several books outlining his concepts.

The door to the visitor center

Water and snow is gathered from the roof and then goes into a cistern.

Some of the Earthships are quite large.

These are actually the bottoms of glass bottles which have been placed into the wall.

Most of the Earthships have a SciFi quality about them

I asked the docent what CAD software was used to design the building and he said Mark Reynolds, the main architect, usually just sketched things out with paper and pencil. 

There are 75 homes in the colony outside of Taos, with plans for 55 more buildings. Most of the homes start at around $225,000.  

I did go on Zillow and I only found one place for sale for about $850K - a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom 2600 sq ft home.

There are currently about half a dozen Earthships for sale, according to the docent. The colony has been around for about 50 years.

I think you would have to have a certain personality to want to live in an Earthship - definitely have strong feelings about the environment and making the world a better place. It would be challenging as I expect the homes would be pretty cold in winter time, but probably fine during the summer.

This is me on the middle of the bridge, overlooking the gorge.

Our second stop was the Rio Grande Gorge. There is a rest stop right before the bridge. There were Native Americans with tables set up selling jewelry and other crafts. Ari bought some raw gem stones to add to his collection.

At this point, Ari was starving. It took several tries to find a restaurant that was open, but we finally found one - El Taoseno.

The ambience was early company lunchroom, but the food was really, really good.

I ordered a Navajo Taco. This plate did not look like a Navajo taco or at least not like previous Navajo tacos I have had. A Navajo taco is Indian fry bread with fillings. This was Indian fry bread smothered with beef, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, sauce, and cilantro.

I have no complaints.

We also got sopapillas with honey for dessert and they were perfection.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up with grocery shopping and then back to our campsite.

I got phone calls from all THREE sons - Benjamin, Daniel and Isaiah! We haven't heard from Isaiah since last July so it was wonderful to just hear his voice and know that he is OK.

Tomorrow we leave for Sugarite Canyon State Park.

We have visited this park before and we really liked it. It is cool because you can ride between two states - Colorado and New Mexico.

Ari really enjoyed this campground. It is on the top of his list of places we have stayed.