Get off the grid in Taos, N.M.
With today’s information onslaught, smartphones and retail profiling, getting off the grid may seem like a uniquely 21st century desire. But the northern New Mexico town of Taos has been a go-to physical and spiritual oasis for people looking to escape since the early 1900s.
Turning off U.S. 64 and into the 650 acres of mesas known as the Greater World Earthship Community is like driving onto the set of “Mad Max,” with dirt structures, futuristic-looking turrets, solar-paneled roofs and supporting walls made of recycled tires and glass beer bottles glinting in the sunlight. What had I gotten into? Then I reminded myself that this was off-the-grid lite, with all the modern conveniences – running water, an indoor bathroom, even Wi-Fi and Apple TV.
The community is the brainchild of architect Michael Reynolds, who for 40 years has been researching, developing and building Earth-friendly housing in Taos and around the world. Earthship Biotecture is a planned sustainable community with 75 homes, five of which are available as nightly rentals.
After a tour of the visitor center, which has an exhibit and a couple of short films explaining the Earthship design principles, I followed one of the college-age guides down a dirt road to check into my Earthship, a structure that had been christened the Lone Tree II.
It looked a bit like a Hobbit hole nestled into the side of the mesa, with a north-facing wall of windows and an indoor greenhouse with skylights. The decor? Rustic modern with a full kitchen, living room, bedroom, bath and modest furnishings. I settled on the couch for a nap, letting the shadows dancing on the mountains lull me to sleep.
I ventured out for dinner, though I could have cooked at my home sweet Earthship, as some of the rentals even have indoor vegetable gardens.
On the way to Taos Mesa Brewing, I stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, 2 miles east on U.S. 64, to gaze at the water cutting through dramatic slices of earth and to take in the scene along the side of the road, where locals had set up tables to sell jewelry and crafts and where an enterprise called the Bus Stop Ice Cream and Coffee Shop was operating out of an old yellow school bus.
Taos Mesa Brewing is housed in an old converted airplane hangar, 4 miles east of the bridge on 64. Out on the patio, strung with electric lights, tourists mixed with locals, bicyclists and boozers. I ordered a beer sampler and chuckled at the names on the menu (the “Fungus Amungus” mushroom burger, for example). The sunset was so sky-sprawling that no iPhone pic could capture it, and the sounds of live music filtered out on the cooling breeze – someone singing Bob Dylan’s lyrics: “Any day now, any day now, I shall be released.”
That night, I shared the Earthship with a boisterous mouse, which was OK, I guess. After all, this dirt mound was really more his than mine. I can’t say I slept soundly, but at least I had the chance to catch the celestial light show outside, brighter than any I’d ever seen.
A take on Taos
After a gray-water shower the next morning, I headed back to Taos to explore. I stopped at Taos Diner for a breakfast burrito “Christmas style,” with red and green chiles, that was big enough to feed a family.
Driving the empty roads in the early hours, it was easy to see how banking heiress Mable Dodge Luhan, who had seen the world, could be charmed by this corner of it in 1919. “There was no disturbance in the scene, nothing to complicate the forms, no trees or houses, or any detail to confuse one,” Luhan wrote in her 1937 autobiography, “Edge of Taos Desert.” “It was like a simple phrase of music or a single line of poetry, essential and reduced to the barest meaning.”
Luhan and her Native American husband, Tony, built a home that backs up onto Taos Pueblo land, just off Morada Lane. You can stay in the beautiful, rambling white adobe structure, now a bed and breakfast, where Luhan hosted artists and thinkers (such as Ansel Adams, Martha Graham, Georgia O’Keeffe and Carl Jung). Or you can just stop for a quick visit and a cup of coffee.
As soon as it opened at 10 a.m., before the day got any hotter, I toured Taos Pueblo. Bordering the town on the northern side, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the Taos-speaking tribe has been living for more than 1,000 years. The pueblo’s multistoried structures are impressive against the backdrop of wide sky, and the stark white San Geronimo Chapel is majestic in its simplicity. The church was built in 1850. On most days, residents are on the grounds selling jewelry, totem animals and fry bread.
Taos is just shy of 6,000 residents and counts tourism as its primary industry. The center of the Downtown Historic District is Taos Plaza. But the assortment of shops and restaurants there wasn’t nearly as appealing as the ones on Bent Street, just off the square. Among the Bent Street offerings are FX18, which features locally made gifts and accessories; and Chocolate+Cashmere, which has homemade chocolates in flavors such as lavender and honey, plus cashmere hats and socks.
After a sandwich at the Bent Street Cafe & Deli, I drove to the Millicent Rogers Museum, which was founded by the family of a Standard Oil heiress in 1956 and contains her considerable collection of Spanish and Native American art and jewelry.
Another must-see is the Harwood Museum of Art, which features works that speak to the Anglo, Latino and Native American heritage of New Mexico, as well as the role Taos has played in the American art scene.
I spent an hour strolling the galleries on Kit Carson Road. At Living Light Gallery, Taos photographer Lenny Foster’s images of hands – cooking, writing, praying and loving – were uplifting. Mission Gallery and the nearby Robert L. Parsons Fine Art had impressive collections of works by early Taos artists.
After a day of sightseeing, I was ready for El Monte Sagrado, a hotel with 48 rooms, 30 suites and six casitas, leafy grounds with rambling brooks, and a spa. The hotel’s luxurious design and decor are inspired by Native American heritage.
I had a glass of wine outside, sitting at the base of a green meadow laid out like a carpet below the Taos Mountains. I resisted the urge to pull out my iPhone. I wanted to stay off the grid just a little bit longer.