(no subject)
Ethical qualms over the Rainbow Gathering have won out.
(Research on the damage done to the land has reassured me that the organizers really are cleaning up very well afterward--aerating the packed-down trails, reseeding with native grasses, filling in latrines, hauling away abandoned vehicles, the works--but the fact remains that it's for all practical purposes, a disaster for the land. And while "in two years no one will even be able to tell it was there," i can't in good conscience contribute to the problem (especially as the event is a social one) when i don't have the time to stay and be part of the rehabilitative solution.)
So, long story even longer, we're going to spend the weekend traveling around New Mexico. It is to be a deeply abbreviated trip, as we only have three days of vacation, but we're going to drive all night and pack all the activity we can in. Here's a loose itinerary:
Leave Friday night a little before 7
Stop in Denison for Carmello's get-together
Drive to Taos.
Arrive in Taos at about 7 or 8 on Saturday morning.
Eat. Hike somewhere in the high country.
Back to Taos, late lunch, meander around the plaza or the artist's colony.
Check into the hostel at Arroyo Seco.
Probably fall asleep, hard.
Up relatively early, to make it to 9 o'clock mass at San Fransisco De Asis.
Make our way to Santa Fe any way we please. Maybe a stop in Chimayo.
Lunch. Museum of International Folk Art.
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum if we can get there with enough time. Plaza, culminating in dinner at the Blue Corn, if not.
Fred gets a little tipsy and i drive to our hotel in Albuquerque.
Sleep in (til nine or so). Fred will have been up for hours, and made cinnamon rolls.
Off to visit the UNM campus. Next,
Decisions will then be made to (1) go back to visit the O'K museum if there wasn't time Sunday, (2) go back to Santa Fe and just hang around, (3) stay and get a feel for Albuquerque, (4) assess our resources and take the tram up Sandia, or (5) something else. Sometime Monday evening or night, we'll leave for Sherman. That'll put us back morning or mid-day on the 4th.
So that's it. Putting it all in writing makes me feel much more anal-retentive, but we're going to be flexible about it all. Equally possible is that we'll get to the hostel, they'll have made some soup and be working a really fun puzzle, and we'll just stay there until we have to come back for work. Who knows.
Firsts:
We're leaving Mardi at home. I'm trying not to feel like a bad dog-mom, but it's going to be SO nice not to have to not stop to take pictures, because deceleration makes her throw up; and to be able to stop somewhere for lunch, rather than drive straight through so she won't be alone in the car. It's sad not to bring her, because she gets so sad without us, but Bethany will take good care of her, and she'll be okay. And i'll get to hike!
I'm going to mass. My first mass ever! I'm certainly not looking for it to be a path back to God, but i am really interested in the ceremony, and SFdA is such a great monument to the religious culture.
I'm taking Fred to places he's never gone. Hostels, O'Keeffe, the folk art museum, and maybe Cafe Oasis, all things i love that he hasn't experienced. I hope he has a good time.
The only downside to this turn of events is that i don't get Rainbow pictures. I am completely stuck as to what to do about that. Too bad i missed Kerrville, which would have been a good stand-in. Ah, well. Something will come along. It always does!
(Research on the damage done to the land has reassured me that the organizers really are cleaning up very well afterward--aerating the packed-down trails, reseeding with native grasses, filling in latrines, hauling away abandoned vehicles, the works--but the fact remains that it's for all practical purposes, a disaster for the land. And while "in two years no one will even be able to tell it was there," i can't in good conscience contribute to the problem (especially as the event is a social one) when i don't have the time to stay and be part of the rehabilitative solution.)
So, long story even longer, we're going to spend the weekend traveling around New Mexico. It is to be a deeply abbreviated trip, as we only have three days of vacation, but we're going to drive all night and pack all the activity we can in. Here's a loose itinerary:
Leave Friday night a little before 7
Stop in Denison for Carmello's get-together
Drive to Taos.
Arrive in Taos at about 7 or 8 on Saturday morning.
Eat. Hike somewhere in the high country.
Back to Taos, late lunch, meander around the plaza or the artist's colony.
Check into the hostel at Arroyo Seco.
Probably fall asleep, hard.
Up relatively early, to make it to 9 o'clock mass at San Fransisco De Asis.
Make our way to Santa Fe any way we please. Maybe a stop in Chimayo.
Lunch. Museum of International Folk Art.
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum if we can get there with enough time. Plaza, culminating in dinner at the Blue Corn, if not.
Fred gets a little tipsy and i drive to our hotel in Albuquerque.
Sleep in (til nine or so). Fred will have been up for hours, and made cinnamon rolls.
Off to visit the UNM campus. Next,
Decisions will then be made to (1) go back to visit the O'K museum if there wasn't time Sunday, (2) go back to Santa Fe and just hang around, (3) stay and get a feel for Albuquerque, (4) assess our resources and take the tram up Sandia, or (5) something else. Sometime Monday evening or night, we'll leave for Sherman. That'll put us back morning or mid-day on the 4th.
So that's it. Putting it all in writing makes me feel much more anal-retentive, but we're going to be flexible about it all. Equally possible is that we'll get to the hostel, they'll have made some soup and be working a really fun puzzle, and we'll just stay there until we have to come back for work. Who knows.
Firsts:
We're leaving Mardi at home. I'm trying not to feel like a bad dog-mom, but it's going to be SO nice not to have to not stop to take pictures, because deceleration makes her throw up; and to be able to stop somewhere for lunch, rather than drive straight through so she won't be alone in the car. It's sad not to bring her, because she gets so sad without us, but Bethany will take good care of her, and she'll be okay. And i'll get to hike!
I'm going to mass. My first mass ever! I'm certainly not looking for it to be a path back to God, but i am really interested in the ceremony, and SFdA is such a great monument to the religious culture.
I'm taking Fred to places he's never gone. Hostels, O'Keeffe, the folk art museum, and maybe Cafe Oasis, all things i love that he hasn't experienced. I hope he has a good time.
The only downside to this turn of events is that i don't get Rainbow pictures. I am completely stuck as to what to do about that. Too bad i missed Kerrville, which would have been a good stand-in. Ah, well. Something will come along. It always does!