Taos is the mothership for Earthships.  These cool homes are “very weird looking”, according to Rachel.  Their website says:  “. . . the Earthship is the epitome of sustainable design and construction. No part of sustainable living has been ignored in this ingenious building.”  They aren’t kidding.

Earthships are made from natural and recycled materials like earth-rammed tires, cement, steel, bottles and cans.  They are typically “off the grid” and also grow their own fruits and vegetables.  Not only are the greenhouses beautiful, but plants are an important part of the design element, as they are also used to filter the home’s gray water which is then used for the toilets.  Earthships catch water from the sky and use it four times in total.  It’s more complicated than this, but I’ll summarize:  1) sink/tub/laundry, etc  2) water inside plants  3) toilets  4) water outside plants.

We visited the aptly named Visitor Center, which is a fully functioning Earthship and were all in awe at how nice it was.  Since it’s been so dry here, we really liked the humidity from the greenhouse!

Check out their website:  http://earthship.com/  or better yet, visit Taos and check them out in person.

Taos, New Mexico.  It does rhyme with mouse.  Or house.  It’s an eclectic, super dog-friendly town that’s a popular tourist site.  There are lots of art galleries, museums, and it’s also the mothership for the Earthships.  But, more about that after we visit.  There’s lots of skiing here too, but more about that later too.

So, we visited the Taos Pueblo (or as Siri called it, “Tay-ose Pew-Blow”) –  which is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the USA.  We walked around and encountered dogs, lots of dogs.  The pueblos were very interesting to look at, they are made from adobe – basically mud and straw.  Most buildings are about 1,000 years old.  The “youngest” building is the “new” San Geronimo church, built in 1850, after the original church was destroyed in 1847.    No electricity is permitted there, nor do they  have any running water.  The Red Willow Creek is the sole source of drinking water for the inhabitants.  Water is carried to the homes by pottery and water pails.  Several hundred people still live there, although one of the Native Americans that we spoke with said he has a four bedroom home nearby.  He and his family use the Pueblo home during the day, and also for ceremonial purposes.  His wife baked us their traditional “fry bread” which resembled fried dough, and we topped it with honey.  It was delicious.  The Pueblo dogs must be excellent beggars, because they followed us around looking for a handout.

Yep – we went to Telluride.  Peter and I ditched the kids with Grandma in Durango and drove over to Telluride to see what all the hype was about.  Boy, they aren’t kidding.  The place is beautiful.

Some say that Telluride is a derivative of  “to hell you ride”, in reference to the remote location of the town and the difficulty in getting there.

According to Wikipedia:  The town was founded in 1878… renamed Telluride in 1887, for the gold telluride minerals found in other parts of Colorado. These telluride minerals were never located near Telluride, causing the town to be named for a mineral which never was mined there.  Somewhat amusing, but at least Telluride can lay claim to a famous outlaw.  Butch Cassidy got his notorious start in Telluride by robbing his first bank there in 1889.

The town still retains its Old West feel and exudes a very laid-back vibe for such a world-class ski resort.  We (Peter) didn’t ski, but we did take the (free) gondola which links Telluride to Mountain Village via a 13 minute, 3 mile ride.  Really, really high in the air…  I concentrated on eavesdropping on the other passengers’ conversations and heard that the iconic Coors label with the mountains is Wilson Peak, part of the San Juan Range, which is 14,017 feet.  That made the 10,500 foot drop that I was looking at from the gondola seem pretty tame.

When I was researching whether to stay in Mountain Village or Telluride, I came across a funny tidbit.  Mountain Village is the subject of a mockumentary called “The Lost People of Mountain Village”.  It’s on Youtube and definitely worth checking out.  You don’t need to be familiar with the area to appreciate the clever humor poking fun at this gorgeous place.  I can’t use the words “artificial” or “contrived” because I actually liked it there.  Not enough to stay in one of the gazillion hotel rooms there, but it was really, really nice.  Check out Youtube and see for yourself.

Some of us went skiing in Purgatory, aka Durango Mountain Resort – but we like to call it by its former name – Purgatory, just like the locals do.

Some (ok, just one) of us, soaked in the hot springs pool located conveniently next door to our RV park.

As there are no pictures documenting the aforementioned skiing, I’ll let you guess who went where.  Oh yeah, Grandma stayed in the motorhome and kept Rufus & Daisy company.

Check out the steam coming from this crystal clear water:

Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez, Colorado, might just be the coolest National Park we’ve visited yet.

“Borrowed” from their website:  Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to 1300. Today the park protects nearly 5,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States.

It was fascinating to learn about the people, see some of the artifacts, and actually tour a cliff house.

In addition to all of this archaeology (note the correct spelling), we saw some pretty cool critters too.

Moab, Utah is also very convenient to another one of the “Grand Circle” National Parks – Canyonlands.  The complete list of Grand Circle parks is below.  We will have been to 5 out of 12 on this trip.  Anyone paying attention & can name all 5?  Prizes will not be awarded.

• Arches National Park (UT)
• Black Canyon of Gunnison (CO)
• Bryce Canyon (UT)
• Canyonlands (UT)
• Capitol Reef (UT)
• Chaco Culture (NM)
• Grand Canyon (AZ)
• Great Basin (NV)
• Mesa Verde (CO)
• Pecos Nat’l Historical Park (NM)
• Petrified Forest (AZ)
• Zion (UT)

Some of the areas at Canyonlands were already closed for the season, but we were able to access enough of the park to get a feel for it.  We had read reviews from other travelers comparing it to the Grand Canyon, and while it is not on such a large scale, it is reminiscent of the Grand Canyon.  Without all the crowds of people.  It’s definitely the place to visit in the summer if you aren’t a fan of the unwashed masses.

Look – they have an arch here too:

Rachel & I are not in favor of this variant spelling:

This might be my favorite park yet.  And not just because there weren’t any crazy hogbacks, razorbacks, switchbacks or evil tunnels to wreak havoc on my nerves.  (I didn’t even know what hogbacks or razorbacks were until I met them in the Big Horn Mountains.  But, that’s another story).

Arches National Park, an easy drive from the funky little town Moab in Utah, is home to well over 2,000 arches.

How are arches formed you ask?

Yeah, I couldn’t read that either.  Try this:

We had lots of amazing examples to see.  For example:

There were lots of other interesting rock formations there too.  Peter made the girls turn away while he posed for this picture:

We were all very impressed with Balanced Rock:

Here’s some for the family photo album:

And finally: