Cage Free Family

Journal Entry for Wednesday, June 18th -

As we entered into New Mexico, the landscape was awe inspiring. I'm afraid I'm not up on my geographical terminology, but the hills are grand enough to be mountains and their shape is so dramatically geometric, yet soft. Speckled with green shrubs, the purple dirt gives a mystical sort of appearance to the view. Sometimes you can see for miles in every direction and others we are surrounded by rising land on all sides, and while the sun is hot and the breeze is warm, the air is so dry that it smells sweet and pleasant.

We were cutting through Las Vegas, NM to hit the highway north to Taos when Jeff called out, "Hey! Grass finished beef!" and we looked over to see a little natural food store nestled in amongst some beautiful, mature landscaping in a residential neighborhood. I would have missed it! I still can't figure out how he managed to see a little 11x17 sign on their door about beef when I missed the store altogether. ;-p
It was deceptively large and carried everything we needed, and more, with more integrity and significantly less space than Whole Foods. They did not stock anything containing corn syrup and their entirely organic produce section came in at less than half the price scale of WF. To top it off, everything was truly fresh.
Awesome.

At the checkout counter we got to talking to a beautiful woman, who's name I failed to get, who told us that she was hoping to make it to the Raw Spirit Festival in Sedona, AZ this September. We're going to have to look that up because it sounded right up our alley.

From there we headed over to the little local hardware shop to pick up some repair supplies for the RV. Again, I was amazed and delighted. The men were so helpful and cheerful and I could not help but comment on how awful our experiences had always been at Lowe's and Home Depot and that I truly hoped that I could continue to shop solely at these small, local businesses in the future.

Our RV seems to have developed some very loud and vibrational exhaust troubles and the engine is bogging down badly on the steep hills as we head into the mountains, but we are in love. In love with everything and everyone that we are meeting.

And now we are in Taos. I will have to write an entire post or two about the beauty and my love of Taos.
Today, in Taos, we have found a connection for raw milk as well as a mechanic who may be able to assist with our continued fuel system troubles.
I love it here so much that if our RV burned to the ground and we could never leave I would be no less happy. We will be back here. No doubt about it.

Last night we camped in the Taos Ski Valley for free. As we drove in I alternated between slack jawed gaping and repeated utterances of "It's SO. BEAUTIFUL."
We rolled in to the very end of the road and found a deserted ski villiage completely surrounded by mountains.
Mountains green with Pine and Aspen and the air completely and heavily infused with a smell so sweet I couldn't quite put my finger on it...it was like a combination of fresh pine, and earthy lavender with a sweetness of honeysuckle or lilac. I couldn't get enough and felt like a dog, endlessly sniffing the air.

The sky overhead was so blue and filled with huge, billowy, cottony clouds and the sun was literally pushing rays out over the tops of the mountains. It was like falling into some sort of utopian movie. To good to be real.

We changed into our sweaters and boots and went for a hike up the trails with the kids and watched the sky change to an awesome display of purple and red and yellow and orange. The mountains and the clouds were on fire and we found ourselves staring in complete awe again.

Then then if all that wasn't enough; the stars came out. All around. There were so many and they came down and touched the tops of the mountains.
If I tell you about the shooting star I think you might reach the level of disbelief that I felt, so I'll leave that out ;-)

Oh. My. God.

Taos, I love you.

Deeply and madly.

And I haven't even begun to enjoy the amazing people you are home to .

We are on to Colorado today and I feel a painful longing that I know will draw me back here very soon.

xo