10/28/22 (Friday)

Can't believe it's my last day at Earthship Biotecture! What an incredibly remarkable experience it has been. I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to be out here in Taos for the last month learning about Earthships, working on Earthships, and living in one! I spent time last night after the pizza party packing up and ensuring my room was tidy so I could hit the road right after our final class this morning. Living in a Simple Survival Earthship has definitely set me on the path towards living a more minimalist life.

Our final class was "The Owner/Builder Experience." It was so awesome to listen to two crew members and hear their first-hand experience of what it was like building their own Earthship. One design was larger and more detailed than the other simple dome design--both had their benefits and drawbacks. If I do decide to pursue building my own Earthship, it will likely fall somewhere in the middle of the two.

After class, I said goodbye to my classmates and hit the road, heading back north towards Denver. One of my goals is to visit all of the US National Parks, so I figured I'd try and visit at least one while out here. As luck would have it, Great Sand Dunes National Park is pretty much on the way from Taos to Denver. After a couple hours of driving, I arrived in Alamosa, CO and entered the park. What a beautiful place! I walked around the little loop trail near the Visitor Center learning about all kinds of vegetation in the area, as well as the formation of the giant sand dunes. Unfortunately the park's Visitor Center itself was being remodeled, but they had a temporary double-wide trailer set up with information and lots of cool-looking trinkets for sale (got a few postcards and a Great Sand Dunes National Park coaster!). After some light shopping, I drove further into the park, getting closer to the Dunes, and was actually able to go out and walk on the sand--so cool!

Was really hoping to be able to get up to Rocky Mountain National Park on this trip as well, but there just wasn't enough time. My 4Runner rental looked like it had been through a muddy river after a month of shuttling us to and from the job-sites, so I wanted to be sure I had it adequately clean and vacuumed. I headed north and decided to spend the night in Pueblo, CO (about two hours south of the Denver airport, so the last of my travels tomorrow wouldn't be too bad). So glad this is where I ended up staying because I found an awesome hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint--Nana's House Cafe--where I had some tasty armadillo eggs (jalapeno poppers stuffed with cream cheese and brisket, wrapped in bacon) and a Nana's wrap (pulled pork, sauteed veggies in a garlic cilantro butter, and a jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon). DELICIOUS!