Getting to New Mexico
“You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great…”
How to wrap getting here and week 1 feels like a true feat, so forgive me if it’s both rambly and uninteresting. But I’ll do my best. If you’re here for the photos, skip on down, they are in a chronological order of my experiences.
My travels started back up on the last day of 2021 with me driving to Nashville, TN to spend New Year’s weekend in a cozy as hell cottage. Why Nashville you may ask? Well there’s a tender, new, and budding romance happenin’ in my life with a miss Kendahl. You may start to see some photos of her sprinkled in and around here. ;-) (My travels are what connected us back in November.) The weather was absolutely nuts that weekend so there wasn’t a lot of adventuring, it was mostly relaxing and easing into the new year. On day 1 of 2022 I found my first four leaf clover of the year. How magical! The first of the snaps below are of the cutie cottage outside of Nashville and the cutie miss K with my sweet Pony.
My path after Nashville had me in two whirlwind single night stays in Greenwood, AR and Amarillo, TX. The farm pics are from AR, and you can likely tell where Amarillo starts (see orange car door). I don’t have much to say about either of these places because I was truly there for rest after long days of driving. Major love for my sweet furries for putting up with all of that car travel with me. I did make time for one super cool stop on my way out of Amarillo to see the Cadillac Ranch. A 1974 art installation by the self-named group Ant Farm, some art friends from San Francisco. The Cadillacs have been decorated over time by the passers by, and the cars have now been in the ground for longer than they were on the road as cars. An easy must see if you’re traveling through Texas on I40.
Alas, New Mexico! Land of Enchantment is an understatement and it’s only week 1. The first few days I was pretty out of it recovering from so much driving, but I did my best to get out and see my surroundings. And what was true for me week 1 in North Carolina is true for me now. That week 1 wtf and wth am I doing with my life existential dread equally mixed with abundant gratitude. I am house of paradoxes. I digress. My Airbnb (pictured in the photo just after the last Cadillac photo) is in the town of Española (officially incorporated in 1925) just outside of Santa Cruz. Española is in a valley nestled between the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges, and the meeting point of three rivers, the Rio Grande, the Rio Chama, and the Rio Santa Cruz (thank you Wikipedia). Across the street is the Holy Cross Church which boasts the stunning mountain backdrop. My first afternoon there, my host Kata invited me on a walk so our dogs could meet. I met her outside assuming we were just going to hop around this area. I was mistaken. I followed her in my car to La Puebla trails which winds through an arroyo (which describes most of the local terrain). (An arroyo is a steep-sided gully formed by the action of fast-flowing water in an arid or semi-arid region, found chiefly in the southwestern US. –Google Dictionary.) I was of course surprised, stunned, and delighted by the ridiculous natural beauty. And thankfully Kata’s dogs and Pony got along perfectly. So did Kata and I. She’s also an artist and it seems we have a lot in common. Our conversations spanned subjects of being gay women to the cult of Yogi Bhajan that has ties to the area. Made for rich getting to know you hike chatter to say the least.
Later in the week and over the weekend I ventured on two more hikes and took myself on a small tour of Santa Fe. The hikes shown below were Nambé Badlands and the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge with a few snaps of the drive back to the casita on Route 68 along the gorgeous Rio Grande. Also shown below are the insane sunrises visible when I step outside in the mornings. My trip to Santa Fe was mostly to scope the area for my upcoming visits from my bestie loves, Cheryl and Laura, for my birthday in two weeks! But first, I’ll be welcoming the lovely Kendhal and her two besties later this week, in from both Nashville and Colorado. I feel so lucky to not only have friends who meet me along the way, but to also have attracted such amazing new folx into my life to meet me here as well. For now, enjoy the photos below and stay tuned for week 2 to come next week! I’m here until February 4th and at some point going to make a small pilgrimage to see where I was born on the border of New Mexico and Arizona. There’s always so much more to say and share, so if you have an questions or wanna show some love, comments are always welcome. I cannot wait to continue to soak up and experience all the magic that is New Mexico. As always, my gratitude and awe are in massive abundance.
Love,
Jessica, Finley, and Pito
