Basin & Range

Hubby and I spent the weekend in Nevada, in the big-sky, west desert country that is basin and range. This is really what most of the state of Nevada is...disconnected mountain ranges and extremely large valleys separating the ranges.

Great Basin National Park is located in the range that is home to Mount Whitney, Nevada's tallest peak. At its foot is the teeny, tiny town of Baker. If you blink driving through, you will miss it. I have a friend who is doing some seasonal park service work there, and since it is only a six hour drive, we went over. We camped up on the mountain creeks and it is amazingly beautiful, just like a regular mountain anywhere else. You would never know driving through the "basin" parts...it's like the desert hides the good stuff. You have to be an adventurer to go and find it.

On day two we began a hike that started at some crazy elevation over 8,000 feet above sea level. At some point, the trail just continued to be a steady uphill trudge. This conversation ensued:

ME: Jeesuz. This hill is kicking my ass.
MY FRIEND: This is a mountain.
ME: Oh yeah.

We never got to the end of the trail, but we did get up into snow, which this late in the year is very rare. It has just been one of those wetter times here in the southwest.

We ended up in the west desert on the last day there, dipping into some warm springs that bubbled out of a rocky outcropping in the middle of nowhere, literally. The water was crystal clear blue, and there where all kinds of ferns and grasses, and it was spectacular. I felt special for having seen it, let alone being able to get into it.

On the last night, we had a private tour of Lehmann Caves. There was this long corridor that was blasted out in the 1950s as an alternate cave entrance; it had a door at each end. The acoustics were spectacular. Under pressure from friends I sang a song--Durufle's "Ubi Caritas." It sounded good; it would have been better with a whole choir, of course, but I made due. It is always so much fun to find places like that in nature, places with great acoustics, sweet spots, or natural amphitheaters. Before we left, one of the rangers slammed the door...the thud vibrated over and over down the corridor, and felt as though it reached into my soul, like a stormless thunder. The gate to Hades itself had shut. I was glad to be able to reemerge into the twilight.

Las Vegas is one of my favorite places, hands down. I've spent the bulk of my time in Nevada in Vegas; I even got married there. But now, after this latest road trip, Nevada for me will always be the lone mountains and hidden edens that rise up from desert floors.

Santa Fe

I just got back from a weekend in New Mexico. I hadn't been to Santa Fe in awhile, and we spent a couple of days there. If art is your thing, this is your town. However, the sheer number of galleries is mind-numbing, and some of the offerings create an air of gentrification that doesn't quite mesh with the Mexican/Indian/Spanish vibe that still exudes from the town's old buildings and side walks. I walked by a jewelry store that had, of all things, a gem-encrusted clutch bag in the shape of a cat's head. Who in Santa Fe is looking to put down the big bucks for that?

Back in the day, I'm sure the town was little and dusty. Now, all the Californians, ex-hippies, half-humans, and trust funders have moved in and turned it into their own shopping paradise. You know Californians have taken over when a brand-new Trader Joe's looms on the outskirts of the old town. Santa Fe's traffic situation is pretty grim (dear GOD); the Californians must have brought that with them, too.

Santa Fe still exudes old West charm by the bucket-full, though. Its adobe architecture has an oddly calming influence, as do its many churches. And no one can say anything bad about the the food there. Tomasita's is still cooking the best New Mexican chow anywhere; hell, most restaurants there are simply astounding. New Mexico is indeed the land of enchanment, and the food is a huge part of that, I think.

There were a few places there that really touched my heart--the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum was great, as was the St. Francis Cathedral, which had a chapel that dated back to the 1600s and the Spanish influence. I also enjoyed the Loretto Chapel with its mysterious spiral staircase. While I was there, this little girl kept trying to get around me and I was trying to let her get by, but we kept ending up in the same spot. After awhile, she just reached around me and hugged my legs. This completely surprised me. She was probably three or four, and either Mexican or Indian--a very cute kid. She hugged me for a pretty long time; I was compelled to hug her back. My friend Kim said, "You two kept ending up in the same spot trying to let her by, so I guess she thought you should be together." She finally turned loose and went to her dad, since by hugging me she was able to get around me. Kids have instincts that sometimes astound me--here is this conflict situation, and the kid solves the whole problem with a hug. That was pretty cool.

The weekend was wrapped up with another friend's wedding in Carson National Forest just south of Taos. We camped out for two days and partied and ate more great food; there was a ceremony in there somewhere as well. It was a great way to end the weekend.

New Mexico is great place and I would not mind calling it home at some point in the future.