I'm Home

I am home safe and sound.  I have spent the evening unpacking, doing laundry, opening up and shredding stacks of mail, and of course cuddling on the couch with my 'puppy' (my eight-year-old, min-pin) Destiny.  I missed her so much!  I am happy to see her and snuggle with her. :o)

Wow, Wow, and WOW! I had an amazing life changing vacation! I can hardly wait to tell you all about it.

I am so far behind on my blog I don't even know where to begin...well I guess the best place to begin is where I left off.  I will do that soon.  Now, I need sleep. 

Thank you all for following me on my blog. I will update soon!! :o)

It is Wednesday already! Really?

They say "time flies when you are having fun"...in that case I must be having a blast!!  

Saturday, October 30th; I had lunch with my friend Mary at a yummy local restaurant (The Blue Corn 'something')... it was fun catching up and sharing my adventures with her.  After lunch l got back into the car and set cruse control for Sedona, AZ.  It was a beautiful drive! I love to see the mountains and the BIG open sky.  The drive-time went fast as I talked to my friend Rachelle and got to relive my adventures with her. I got to my hotel and fell into bed, exhausted.

Sunday, October 31st; I started my day with a Pink Jeep Tour.  Yes, they are hot pink Jeeps!  It was a three hour tour, four-wheeling up/down and all over the mountains/rocks.  It was a blast and I highly recommend it to everyone.  I then went to the Cathedral Rock. The views from the rock were breathtaking! It was very calm yet energetic at the same time.  I sat in the sun on the retaining wall surrounding the church and wrote in my journal for quite some time.  As I sat there writing and letting the calm energy fill my soul I could see the other visitors come and go and hear their conversations as distant mumbles.  I overheard one woman say to another “That’s what I want you to do; sit and write deep thoughts.”  I felt both of them looking at me. So I looked up and asked them if I was in there way (I didn’t want to block the view for anyone or end up in anyone’s vacation photos). A twangy southern accent replied; “No, {not in our way} you just look so profound in deep thought.  I could never be that profound.”
Me~ “It was hard for me at first too. However, I am learning to just sit, be still, and let my thoughts and feelings overtake me. I just quite my heart and be.”
Woman~ “You must be a native. You look and sound like you belong here.”
The entire conversation resonated with me.  I really have learned to relax and let go.  I HAVE let go of all of the little things that really have no bearing on my life.  I have learned that fear is wasted energy.  What will happen, will happen. Fear or worry will not change what is to be.  I pray that this feeling stays with me after I return home and to my ‘everyday’ routine. I have met many new people along my journey.  These ladies were not the first to ask/assume that I lived here (in New Mexico and/or Arizona).  It is amusing to me that of all of the people I have meet very few are actually ‘from’ here {here; wherever I am at the moment} the only natives I have met are Native Americans. Everyone else seems to have the same story; “I came out here on vacation, fell in love with the location/ the feeling/ the energy and I moved here ASAP.  I ended my night at the look-out on airport road as I watched the sunset over the city of Sedona.  It was breathtakingly beautiful!!

Monday, November 1^st; I went to Red Rock State Park. Planned to make a day of it… the day did not go as planned.  However…I will have to tell you about that another time…it is 2am and I must get some sleep.  :o)

Friday (Saturday will post another day)

So sorry I didn't post last night...I was having too much fun and it was after 11:00 by the time I got back to my room...I was exhausted. I hit the sack as soon as I got to my room.  I heard form several of you that you look for my post every morning; THANKS!!  That makes me feel good to know that you all are reading and enjoying my posts :o)

Friday: WOW!!!  Friday, October 29, 2010 is a day I will never forget! It truly was a life changing day! I started out early and drove the high road up to Taos. Yes, it really is called the “High Road”.  The drive was beautiful, amazing, enchanted! (I’m running out of descriptive words to describe the beauty.) I understand why they call New Mexico the “Land of Enchantment”.  I feel as if I’m under some sort of enchanted spell. 

Halfway up the mountain, I stopped at El Santuario de Chimayo and got some Holy Dirt. (check out this link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Santuario_de_Chimayo ) I feel it is important to mention the fact that I am not a Catholic. I have been in Catholic churches before and have many friends who are Catholic. I stopped at this little church purely for the historical aspect.  As I walked through the doorway into the chapel a warm feeling filled me heart/chest and I started to cry. At first I told myself it was my allergies making my eyes run (as they do most mornings) but between me and you… it was so much more!! I walked into on of the isles and sat down in a pew I sat there for what seemed like an hour or more (I do not wear a watch on vacation, so I have no idea how long I actually sat there) an elderly lady was sweeping up the alter an I rose to walk down the isle (to enter the room with the holy dirt) the woman spoke to me and told me all about a book she has read several days about a woman who was healed in Canton Ohio (I have the title written down somewhere…) after exiting the church, I walked around the grounds and sat in the courtyard for an extended period of time; I pulled out my journal and started to write. A true since of calm came over me.  It was as if the weight of the world was being lifted off of my shoulders.  I’m having trouble finding the words to describe just how peaceful the feeling was (is).  There were several gift shops, and local artist selling there wears. I bought some fresh ground green, red, and mixed chili powders…  When I got back into my car; I realized I had spent over two hours at that location.  It was well worth the time.  But my day got even better from there!  (not sure why this is bolded...and I'm too sleepy to figure it out now...) 

I continued driving up the high road stopping every few miles to take pictures…I even learned that I could hold the camera out the open the sunroof and snap some really cool photos of the high road.

I started my day in Taos at the Taos Pueblo.  Please read about this amazing Native American community at the attached; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taos_Pueblo

I met some incredibly nice people both visitors and residents. (more stories about the people later) It was trick-or-treat night at the Pueblo; Oh the cute costumes I saw. :o)  Every local I spoke to invited me to the “Zombie Walk” being held in the town square.  I decided to go;  I felt as if I had walked into the middle of a Broadway musical.  We all met in town square and walked two blocks to the Community Center where the Zombies all danced to Thriller.  It was amusing and I felt as if I were with lots of old friends!

…oh my…it is 11:45pm… I MUST get some sleep! BTW: I’m in Sedona AZ now! But more about that trip another day. 

Thursday, 10/28/10

Today I started the day at an outlet mall...no outlet shopping is NOT my idea of a vacation. However, that is where the visitors center is located. So, I started there.  A very helpful woman was working at the visitors center.  I explained my hesitation to visit some places on my own, and asked that she show me some places to be sure to see as well as places I should avoid (due to safety). She showed me a few spots I want to be sure to see before I leave NM. 

It was rather interesting to have a complete stranger say they admire me for traveling by myself...truth be told; I was scared to travel alone.  However, I have realized that if I always waited to have others to go and do things with I would rarely leave my house. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  So fear aside, here I am.

From there I drove to Pecos, NM. The drive was beautiful up through and around the Santa Fe National Forest. I toured the ruins of a 18th century mission church and Kiva's built by the Pueblo Indians during the Indian revolt of 1680.

Then I drove back to Santa Fe to The Bishops Lodge Resort for an incredible dinner of chipotle mushroom linguine. After dinner I walked over to the stables for a breathtaking horseback ride at sunset.  

Today was a great day..."cold" but great!!  Tomorrow (Friday) I am headed to Taos. 

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday: I spent the day shopping in downtown Santa Fe.  Amazing shops!  I met some wonderful local artists…and I’m sure it goes without saying; I acquired some wonderful pieces. :-)    

Wednesday: WOW! I had an amazing day today!  I hired Santa Fe Walkabouts to be my hiking guide. The company is owned by married couple; Sue (a transplant from New York city) and George (a transplant from Paris, France) they met 4+ years ago in Santa Fe while on vacation. They went back to their respective homes dated long distance and after a year of that, they decided to marry and move to Santa Fe to start and outdoor adventure company. George was my guide today; he is very knowledgeable about the city, the Pueblo Indians (whose reservation we drove through) the plant, animals, and the terrain.

We drove out to White Rock Canyon and hiked the “Pipeline Trail” AKA the “Blue Dot/Red Dot” trail (if I can figure out how to load my photos onto my blog, you will see the blue/red dots sprayed on the rocks to mark the trails).  It was a 7.5 mile hike in old lava fields.  We started at 7000 feet with temperatures in the low 30’s and hiked down 800 feet where the temperatures went up at least 20 degrees. At the bottom we found a nice spot next to a small double waterfall to eat lunch.  After lunch we continued to follow the Rio Grande River for a total of 2 miles then hiked 900 feet back up the other side of the mountain.  I saw amazing things; 800 year old pictographs carved into the stones. Several millipedes (dead and alive), lots of beautiful dragonflies, praying mantis, and a huge tarantula! Yes a BIG brown/tan furry tarantula! It was truly amazing!!

I’m planning a horseback riding trip tomorrow…I will let you know how it goes!

sorry...no photos yet! I cant figure out how to get them from EasyShare to the blog.

The drive...I made it!

Wind storms 50 - 80mph winds!!  It was CRAZY!  Driving across the pan handel of TX is long!!! OK and NM the wind beat me up!  I have bruses on my hands & harms from trring to pump gas, open/close the cardoor without the cardoor blowing away! 

And the audio books I downloaded??  Well...I had no idea that downloading them to the ipod would rearange the chapters in alpa order... I listened to "The Last Lecture" (out of order), "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to The Future" (out of order)... However the chapters in "Why is Go Laughing?" are numbered so I actually got to hear that in order. I attempted "Running with Scisors"...but that made no sence out of order! LOL!

More later...I'm on my way to explore Santa Fe

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This is only a test!! :o)