Well, the slides have been shown, the travel arrangements come to life, the lifelong friends made, and the adobe homes visited. Yes, friends, my trip to Santa Fe is, officially, over. I’m back in Austin, the laundry put-up, the bills about to be paid, the American Idol results soon to be watched, and all of that mundane day-to-day stuff we take for granted is about to come back into focus.
But, I’m not really the same. I drove through mountains. I saw red rocks, I played in adobe sands. I stood where Ansel Adams once did and saw some of the same scenes he did. I spent part of Easter Sunday shooting the Chimayo sanctuary with Norman Mauskopf. I not only met Joyce Tenneson, I got to really get to know her work and, in turn, shared a bit of mine. I drove the high road to Taos. I saw the galleries and fine art along Canyon Road and chowed down on red hot chile peppers for days.
For those who don’t know, the high road to Taos is actually a treacherous sometimes ice-covered windy road that takes you around hairpin curves through narrow passageways into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Why, in these modern times, would one actually choose this type of transport, over greater distances, when a suitable highway is readily available? Now, that one is easy-the high road to Taos is, much like my trip to Santa Fe itself, more of a spiritual destination than a journey in and of itself. It’s about the travel, not about the “getting there” that counts.
Everybody should get to take their own “High Road to Taos” someday-be it discovering beautiful light in Holland, racing around the English lake district, visiting the High Sierras or the great geysers of Yellowstone. It’s the things we do to comfort the spirit that make the fondest of memories. Sure, I’ll probably have some photos to show sometime soon, but nothing can quite capture the memory I have of driving that road, seeing those sights, experiencing those mountains, being close to the heavens.
And, on that note, even though I’m back in town, part of me is still trapped on that curvy road in the mountains-enjoying “God’s country-” all of it’s views, all of it’s ice, and all of it’s great mountain peaks. I hope someday you get to take your own “High Road to Taos” and that yours is just as rewarding and memorable as mine was.
Pictures to be uploaded soon.
Until next time…
