Had a great homecooked breakfast with Richard and Sandra before leaving the beautiful city of Santa Fe and heading back north to Taos. There was another tour happening up at REACH at noon, so I wanted to be sure I made it back in time for that. As I had already did it once, I knew it was going to be a tough hike up with the altitude. What I did not anticipate, though, was how much trouble we'd have getting to the parking lot! There was a giant tree that had recently fallen across the road blocking our path. Luckily a classmate had a hand saw in his truck, so we each took a turn with that. We had made it about halfway through the tree when some residents started driving down the other side of the road across from us. They saw what had happened and went back up the road to grab a chainsaw. Twenty more minutes to clean the tree up, then we were back on the road to REACH!
As anticipated, it was a challenging experience this time around, too. I once again found it difficult to get an adequate supply of air to my lungs at this altitude (about 10, 000 feet), especially while huffing up a huge ascent. Finally made it to the Earthship we were going to tour though, and it was quite the sight to see! It had multiple floors and is estimated to be approximately 4,000 square feet total. I'm definitely envious of the building (though not the commute!).
After a couple hours and another tour of a neighboring Earthship with some of the most intricate bottle work I have seen to date, I thanked our guests for the gracious tours and snacks, hiked back down the mountain, and hopped in the 4Runner headed to Taos. My favorite coffee shop had already closed, so I headed to Chokola for some nice warm sipping chocolate on this dreary gray day (and picked up some bean to bar souvenirs, too!)--YUM!
Comments