Earthships, The Gorge and Fireworks, New Years Eve 2011

We had a great New Year's Eve. After breakfast we all loaded up into our cars and drove out to see the gorge. This is a huge canyon with the Rio Grande running through it. A bridge runs over it. We drove across and then parked and walked down to look over the edge. The wind was blowing so hard that we were freezing. Davis said he wasn't afraid of heights but he was afraid that the wind was going to blow him off. We hastily snapped some pictures and ran back to the car.
A few miles down from the gorge are some Earthships. We went to visit the Earthship World Headquarters. These are some really cool houses. I loved how the grew their vegetables in the long window room and how their utility costs are only about $100 a year. Michael was fascinated with the engineering aspect. It was a neat thing to learn about.
Then we drove back into Taos for lunch at the Eske Brew Pub. Sam was pretty sick for the first half of lunch because of car sickness, but he felt better after about 20 minutes We all tried some beers that they make there and I had a veggie burger. Sam recovered and we were ready to rock again.
We rested through the afternoon. At some point mom pulled out a sage stick we'd bought at the Pueblo on our last trip. Dad and Kaden lit it and we went through the house doing a smudging ceremony to bless the house and remove all negativity. It was a really great thing to do and the kids got really in to it.
Around 4PM we put on our warmest clothes and all headed up the Taos Ski Valley. It was dark when we arrived. We walked next door to the tubing area with our own sleds and let the kids go down. They loved it and it was MUCH better than paying for tubing. Lesson learned. After about 15 minutes we walked over to the base of lift 1 and found great spots to watch the torch light parade and fireworks. The kids found a little snow ledge in front of us where they could lie on their backs and watch the mountain and we stood behind them. It was so cool to see the ski instructors fly down a black run holding flares in each hand. We whooped and hollered a lot for them.
When they came all the way down an amazing fireworks show began. I think it was the best one I've ever seen and I was so glad that this was the boys' first firework experience. The fireworks were so close to us and reflected against the white mountain slope. I wish I was a real writer so that I could explain better but it was absolutely awesome.
We drove back down the mountain after the show and I threw an enchilada casserole in the oven and opened the champagne. Our kids were begging to go to sleep and we were happy to oblige. They went right down and so Tiff put on a movie in their room for Kade and all of the grownups moved to the living room to sit by the fire, drink champagne and play Things. We played for two hours and laughed so much. It's a great game. We watched the ball drop in New York (10PM our time) and I went to bed.
Michael had gotten an urgent work email and so he had to abandon the fun and work. I think he came to bed right before one.
It was a lovely New Year's Eve and could have only been better if we could have shared it with our friends.