Westward: Magical Taos Road Trip
Its name thunders
with weight, mystery.
The wind rips through it.
A mountain, a magnet, a god:
Taos
It’s an old town north of Santa Fe—a pueblo—that’s always had a spirit about it. Always magnetized artists, makers, utopianists. It’s said to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States, founded by Taos Indians around 1000 years ago. The sky is alive. There’s something about its spread over the expanse of the mesa, the way the mountain calls the clouds, the wind bending everything in, open, toward what painters, poets, photographers are trying to get at. Just the place for an Alter Journeys retreat…
I stayed out on the edge of the mesa at the Hotel Luna Mystica, a vintage trailer park under a gazillion stars that echoes the spirit of Taos: honor what’s come before for its layers of wisdom and play. One part grit, two parts magic. Keep it simple. Live close to the wild. As a little sign outside my trailer (‘The Yogi,’ of course) a little sign warned:
‘Walk attentively–
the mesa is alive.’
Recommended Wanderings:
Explore the pueblo of old town Taos: art galleries, handcrafts, incredible Mexican food.
The Kit Carson Museum is a surprisingly beautiful lens on the history of colonial and Native American relations in this region.
Take a quiet moment at the numinous St. Francis chapel.
Stunning 2-hour-ish hike: Lake Williams Trail
Favorite local shop: Blue Feather Naturals - soap and potions infused with the scents and sage of the West
Sunrise walk, listening to the silence
Diving in to this summer’s ALTER Book Club read
A seam of light stitching the day shut
Heartward
