For example, when I hear the term rustic, my radar is activated. Wandering the deserts and mesas of New Mexico for a week was unbelievable ... on so many levels.
For example, I met Ivy. This pottery artist is totally amazing, not just because she makes her own gorgeous glazes, but because this insane woman lives multiple miles away from any other human with no Internet on a spot of desert that cannot be easily found on a map. The silence is .... utterly and totally silent. She's SO happy though ... and I found myself returning just to visit.
Then there was the not so busy town of Calazozo. If you were to speak to anybody locally, this was a major area of industry. From what I could tell, it had a few restaurants, couple of petrol stations, a police station, a post office, a few small homes, and an antique shoppe. That was the busy burg of Calazozo. Right. However, I was thrilled to find a set of 1850s hand painted Chinese caddies that I've never ever seen before at the antique store.
Then the history.... wow ... we accidentally focused on 1,000 year old Indian ruins, which, as it happens, is littered across the state in a magnificent way, continuing on up to Four Corners (AZ, NM, CO, UT). I have learned so much and bought more books to learn more based on what I've seen, with plans to return.
However, the accommodations are where it broke down for me a bit. This "resort" was the so called best place in the area, at least of what I could find, and it fell quite a bit short of desire. Here's where we return to the term rustic, and if exposed to the concept of rustic in the future, must set recovery and self-care plans in motion.
Which is exactly what I did.
The continuation of the road trip included Salt Lake City, which was going to be just a couple nights in a Marriott, but did not take much for me to move over to the Grand (stayed there in 2011), get a suite, and lay in the middle of the floor staring at the lovely room knowing that I have survived a back brush week in the desert.
This lovely time of healing involved sending out for laundry to have everything returned folded and boxed in tissue paper, lovely spa supplies, poolside drink service, and fresh flowers everywhere.
Not so ironically, my remaining nights on the road have mysteriously upgraded as well ... truly it is an amazing experience so far, and very bonding with Ellie, including the finer things of life :)
