Happy October!

Well, it has certainly been a long time since my last post.  This has been a very busy school year, both with work and my personal life!  Whew!  I have so much to write about, but not sure when or if I will ever get to it all.

First, I want to apologize to any and everyone who I haven't talked to, seen, called, emailed, visited, hung out with, or the like in the past few months.  I have been busy and when not busy trying everything I can to relax, so sorry to all my friends and family! Please do not take it personally!

Next, I attended the Fund for Teachers meeting last Saturday where all the fellows got to come back together and talk about our trips.  We got very little time to speak, but it would have taken ALL day for everyone to talk at length!  I am so grateful for the opportunities I was given and all the wonderful information and ideas I've gotten to bring back to my classroom!

One week from today I am taking my 7th and 8th grade art students on my first art field trip in YEARS.  We are going to see "The Book of Life" and everyone is REALLY excited.  I have been teaching my students about Dia de los Muertos.  I teach a large Hispanic population, so I always have students who get really excited about this unit.  I decided to teach a unit on repousse and it's connection to Mexican art.  I gave students examples of sugar skulls to look at to come up with an idea for their drawing.  Even though I always stress Day of the Dead is NOT about Halloween at ALL, there are some students who opt out of the subject of the project, which I understand completely!  They are coming up with great designs for their embossing project too! I will post photos soonish... :)

I pledge to post more, so check back often!

Time to Explore!

I hit the road the next morning ready to spend the day exploring as much as I possibly could.  I had a big list of "to-do's" that I wanted to cross off my list.  However, I have learned that the weather is pretty unpredictable (pretty used to that being from Alabama and all), but I would do what I could to see as much as I could.  My first stop was the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, which I had passed driving in to my Earthship.  I saw the Gorge when flying in over New Mexico, so seeing it up close was really cool.  I parked and walked over to it and took the obligatory selfie.  Let me stress my FEAR of heights.  When I turned around to take it, I felt my arms tighten up and my fear of my phone plummeting to the depths below became a reality.  So I took it quickly... Check out these photos!  The gorge really was a very cool place to see.

I set out headed to Angelfire and Eagle's Nest.  Destin is an Eagle Scout and worked at Philmont for several summers way back in the day.  These two places were suggested to me by him and he promised me plenty of landscape eye candy and artistic inspiration.  So I set out, plugged in a random address into my GPS, and hoped for the best.  

To get to these towns, I had to travel over the river and through the woods and up on the mountain and down through the valley and around the steep corner and up and up to the top of the mountain and down the mountain till you finally see a large open stretch of land... (whew, right?!)  Here is a photo of a guy trying to get his cow to safety.  Thankfully I had slowed down around the bend...

So I drove out past Angelfire to get to Eagle's Nest.  Destin was right... The views were stellar.  I stopped and took these photos.  Everywhere around me looked like a postcard.

You can tell from the last photo that something was stirring up in the sky.  I got in the car and headed back toward Angelfire.  As I was pulling out of the parking lot of this picnic area, prairie dogs were darting across the road in front of me.  They move so fast!  By this time, I was starving, so I knew I needed to find something ASAP in Angelfire.  (By the way, the word "angelfire" reminds me of my very first blog I started 14 years ago this year.  Remember that blogsite?!)  So I finally found a restaurant called Zeb's that looked like a local place.  I ordered the brisket and oh my, oh MY!  This meal was the bee's knees and then some!

The moment I stepped out of the restaurant, I knew I needed to get out of dodge with a quickness.  The sky was angry and the lightning was heading my way.  I had to travel back up the mountain, then back down again.  From stories I have heard in this past, this is not where you want to be during a storm.  I was stuck in a line of cars trying desperately to do the same thing I was.  My plan was to get pics of the mountain on the way back, but there went that plan, so I got what I could. The local drivers were passing cars on blind curves and it was terrifying.  Thank goodness I made it back to Taos with no issues, even when the bottom fell out the moment I turned onto the main drag.  

I originally wanted to visit the Taos Pueblo, but that was a bust with the weather, so I drove back to the Earthship to figure out my plan.  I stopped by the Earthship community welcome center to take this next photo.  The storm was rolling in, so I didn't stay long...

I sat at the Earthship for a bit and did a little research on this spa the lady told me about yesterday.  It's called Ojo Caliente and was a bit of a drive from me, but I was intrigued by what it offered.  I really wanted to soak in the different types of pools they had.  If you look up the spa online, it will give you details about the healing properties of each one; soda, arsenic, and iron.  Of course it was still lightning when I finally arrived.  I still bravely put on my swimsuit and headed outside to this beautiful area where the pools were.  I sat back and kept my eye on the sky for a while and took in all the different places the pools were located.  There was a large pool, which was the coolest in temp.  There were quite a few people still swimming around, even though lightning strikes were flashing all around us.  

When the sky seemed to calm down for a while, I walked over to the largest pool to begin.  I was told that the hottest pool was 105 degrees (I think?), so I felt starting out at 88 would suffice.  I then went to the iron pool, which was definitely my favorite.  The bottom was covered in tiny pebbles and the water was very warm and relaxing.  Of course it is awkward sitting in a smallish pool with strangers, but man oh man did that water feel awesome!  The surrounding rocks just added to the ambience of relaxation.  It was really nice.  I got out and went to the soda pool, which was enclosed inside.  Not as warm at the iron pool, but still felt nice, just a bit loud with several people inside.  The last of the pools I tried was the arsenic pool.  I know what you are thinking... YOU GOT INTO THAT?!  Yeah I don't know all the scientifical meanings behind it, but it felt amazing.  There were two pools, one higher than the other that drained into the smaller pool.  After soaking for a couple hours or three, I felt it time to head back to the house.  I was hungry and wanted to settle in to try and see some stars that night!  I had forgotten my phone, so I went back to the car to get it to snap a few photos of the outside at least.  As SOON as I took these photos, lightning struck the top of the rock that was beside the iron pool.  I tucked my tail and flew as fast out of that parking lot as I could get.  I'm telling you.  The weather out there is no joke...  During this drive back to the house, I got to see more of the typical desert landscape that I think of when I think of desert or New Mexico...

I drove back into Taos to get pizza from Taos Pizza Outback (another Destin fave).  Check out this yumminess!

I hoped for a clear night so I could really see the stars the way they are meant to be seen.  I was in luck!  I didn't get to see the milky way (bummer), but it was still very cool to see the stars sprinkled across the immense New Mexico sky.  Of course I don't have photos of that experience, but just know, it was a cross off the old bucket list.

As I woke up the next morning and realized it was time for ol' travelin' Casey to head home for the summer, I started thinking about all the things I had learned and seen in New Mexico.  All the connections I was making to their culture, our culture, MY culture... I was already creating projects and ideas in my head that would translate this real life experience I had to my students.  As a teacher, you find that when you learn something like this, you want to share with others.  You want to share it with people who you hope will appreciate it, learn from it, and possibly teach it to someone else one day.  I do hope that once I teach about this in my classroom (which will be coming up VERY soon!), that my experience and the lessons I teach from it will resonate with my students.  I can't wait!

Thanks again to Fund for Teachers for giving me this opportunity to have the funds to send me to such a rewarding and inspiring experience.  Without them, I would still be longingly looking at the ad in School Arts, wishing I was one of those lucky teachers.  Also, thanks to Stevie Mack and Nancy Walkup for hosting and creating such a fantastic experience for art teachers.  Through your program, I learned so much and experienced more than I thought I could in only a few days.  I made friends, connections, and learned from real artists working in real communities from all over the world.  I feel beyond blessed that I had this wonderful opportunity.  I can't wait to report back as I teach my unit I am creating to my classes!  

My Earthship Home for a Brief Moment!

Woo! I have been so sick the past few days and busy before that.  My goal is to FINALLY complete my entries on New Mexico this weekend!

I decided to extend my trip by a couple of days and drive to nearby Taos to further explore the Native American customs and art of the Southwest.  The drive itself was incredible.  I felt sorry for the workshop participants that only got to see the landscape between our hotel and the airport.

I arrived in Taos WAY before check-in time for my earthship, so I decided to stop by one of the two places Destin insisted I eat when in Taos.  He has raved for years about the stuffed sopapillas at Michael's Kitchen.  Thank goodness I got there at lunch, because they are only open for lunch, except on weekends!  He was not lying, this food was unreal it was so delicious!  I was feeling fabulous after having seen the doctor, so I was ready to eat!

Luckily, the diner was centrally located to the art galleries near the plaza.  I took my time and went inside many different stores, galleries, and shops.  I talked to store owners and artists about their work and realized the art culture of Taos is much more open to contemporary work than Santa Fe was.  This is a photo of the plaza in Taos.  I like the central gathering atmosphere of the plazas in New Mexico cities.  They definitely reminded me of the piazzas I had just visited in Italy. 

Growing up in the South, there are Baptist churches everywhere.  It was neat to see the Southwest version!

I finally headed out of town toward the Earthship I rented off Airbnb.  I have been interested in them after seeing several stories about them on TV and online.  I found one built by a guy who lives most of the year in New York creating lumber from trees that fall in area parks and forests.  The house is unbelievable.  It is self-sustaining by creating it's own electricity and water.  There is a greenhouse in the front part, which was icing on the cake of coolness for me.  The lady who let me in told me about a spa that I was definitely thinking about checking out the following day!  My trip to Taos was turning out well so far.  Here are a few photos of the exterior of the Earthship.  I had easy access to sit on the roof and sit silently in the vastness of my surroundings.  It was truly magical. 

The view from the house was stunning.  The openness around me was something I had only seen in movies.  Of course there was a storm a brewin' while I was taking it all in, but watching it approach from miles away was fascinating.  The panoramas I took were really cool this trip!

While standing out there, I truly felt my connection to this experience solidify.  I felt this was the perfect time to take my fellow photo.  It had to be a selfie since, well, I was alone.

Now let's check out the INSIDE of this insanely cool home base I found for myself out in the middle of the desert...

(CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS EXISTS?!?!?!?!)

That evening I settled in and tried to figure out how to work the house.  There was the BEST storm that night and watching it from an entire wall made of windows was one of the best experiences I could have asked for in this terrain.  Something about being out there really made me feel connected to my Native American roots.