Dixon, New Mexico

We drove up the lane, and even though I had seen a drawing of the house, it felt a little desolate and the land very arid after driving through the mountains. And I was pretty road-burned by that time, too. But it all grew on me. Quickly. It's a very special and private place.The house is cool. It's kind of rustic. It had been built by the original owner probably back in the 70's. The guy made his own adobe bricks. Lots of stained glass. Some carpeting, but mostly wide plank floors and waxed concrete floors. I slept in the turret. Access was by ladder, but the view covered all 360 degrees and was incredible. Sherry and Sandy switched back and forth between the master bedroom and the futon in the living room. There is a washer, but no dryer. We hung our clothes to dry in the greenhouse. There are also tons of herbs growing out there that we used in our baths at night. Actually, I tucked bunches of herbs all over the house.We spent a lot of time out on the porch in the mornings and the evenings, and that was my favorite part of the house. We sat out there every morning and every night and did woo-woo girl stuff, like tossing the iching and reading Sandy's Goddess cards. The patio is delightful, also, and I suspect that I would use that more when the weather wasn't so hot; it is surrounded by windbreaks. It would be a great place to take an air-bath, we just didn't have time.The house sits at the back of an arroyo and the coyotes are positively wild at night around there. The skies were magnificent, the Milky Way at night, resplendent. There's a decent telescope in the house. Too decent. We needed the kiddie version, because we couldn't sight and hold it on anything. There are miles of hiking trails all around it.The town of Dixon is kind of a tiny hippie artist enclave. There is not much there besides a post office and a general store and a vintner (excellent wine) and a gallery. The Rio Grande is just down the road, and there were a number of kayakers and rafters out on the water. Taos is about a half hour away, and Santa Fe about forty-five minutes. Espanola is close. It's a great base camp from which to explore northern New Mexico.And we explored. A lot. A couple of trips into Santa Fe. A couple of trips into Taos. Our visit coincided with the Taos Pow Wow, which was a sensorial delight. We went on Saturday afternoon and stayed late. I saw more men with ponytails than I had ever seen gathered in one place. It was a feast for the eyes and the ears, and the food was great. On one of our drives we visited a mosque that is tucked away in the mountains. They wouldn't allow us inside because we were not dressed appropriately. Not a one of us was wearing a hood or a veil. Sandy's belly button may have been showing. Oh well, another time.Another area that we checked out was the blanco-something. Forgive me, I've gone brain dead. It's an area that Georgia O'Keefe painted a lot. We also saw her estate and toured the new O'Keefe museum in Santa Fe. It was excellent.I found the Dixon rental online. It has most of the stuff you'd expect in a vacation rental, like tv and stereo and vcr, we just never used any of them. The house has excellent linens. There's a big ol' bath tub for Goddess baths, a shower with great water pressure, and a wood stove. We did NOT use the wood stove since it was about 148 degrees outside. The house has a swamp cooler that we used twice. The rest of the time it was too humid to bother.

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