The famous church at Rancho de Taos

The tri-cultural history of New Mexico is strong here.

• At Taos Pueblo, an ancient lifestyle is maintained, in stacked-cube buildings a thousand years old.
• The church of San Francisco de Asis at Rancho de Taos, a favorite with artists, is a reminder of the Spanish, who first arrived with Coronado in 1540.
• Kit Carson's house stands near the plaza downtown, now a museum dedicated to this sometimes friend, sometimes foe of the Indians in the 1800s.

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Moving forward in time, Taos always brings me back to one of my favorite books, by a very remarkable woman:  Edge of Taos Desert: An Escape to Reality, by Mabel Dodge Luhan.

Edge of Taos Desert

In the early 1900s Mabel was a high-society New York city socialite. She was used to Fifth Avenue, wealth and privilege, and she was a patron of the arts and the avant-garde. Technically, she was Mabel Ganson Evans Dodge Sterne. Her latest husband, Maurice Sterne, was a painter, and her intention was to turn him into a sculptor.

In 1917, Mabel decided to visit Santa Fe, New Mexico, a place hardly anyone in New York had heard of. Little did she know how this would affect her.

'I want a vacation', I said to myself. 'I've had a horrid time lately. I feel like a Change.'
I got it. My life broke in two right then, and I entered into the second half, a new world that replaced all the ways I had known with others, more strange and terrible and sweet than any I had ever been able to imagine."

Mabel fell in love with New Mexico, and particularly Taos - a tiny little backwater of a place at the time. She decided they should move here, and made it happen.

It's fascinating to read her descriptions of Santa Fe and Taos, and the way people lived in those days - the Indians, Spanish and Anglos all. In the nearly 100 years since it was written, life has changed greatly here, and Mabel has a unique way of viewing and describing things that's most interesting. But no matter how much has changed, every once in awhile, she says something that makes me think "Exactly - I felt that too!"

The sky was a burning, deep blue over us and my heart rose higher and higher until I was thrilling all over. It seemed to me I had never been happy before, just from being in good air and sunshine. Really, it seemed to me, I had never been happy before at all."

Mabel was more than an observer, though. She became involved with one of the men from Taos Pueblo, Tony Luhan, and eventually married him.

She also invited numerous friends from her old New York life to spend time with her in Taos, so they could discover this new world that so captivated her. By bringing artists, writers and photographers to Taos, she changed things for Taos, her visitors, and even us today. A couple of examples.

• If Georgia O'Keeffe hadn't visited Mabel in Taos, she might never have painted her stunning New Mexico landscapes.
• If Ansel Adams hadn't visited Mabel in Taos, he might never have found his passion for photography, and created his dramatic black and white landscapes.

This is a great book by a fascinating and influential woman - truly an Adventurous Wench! If you're headed to New Mexico, or even thinking about it, this book is highly recommended.

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We've finished our last women's trip to Santa Fe and Taos for the year. I do love visiting New Mexico, and hope to be back there again before long. The big blue skies, fresh crisp air, and remarkable history and culture keep drawing me back - and then there's the delectable food!
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Related posts:

1. Taos, New Mexico - Rio Pueblo Gorge (video)
2. Veterans Day at Taos Pueblo (video)
3. So there we were... rubbed down in the desert

Village ruins on Great Blasket Island

Most of the time when we visit ruins left by vanished people, they're so long gone that much of the life there has been lost in the sands of time, and is a matter of reconstruction and speculation by historians and archaeologists. Not so with the Blaskets, where the last residents evacuated in 1953. But even though it's not that distant in terms of time, they inhabited a very different world than our modern world today.

I just finished reading a couple of books about life in the Blasket Islands, that provide fascinating views into the life on the island.

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The first is Twenty Years A-Growing, by Maurice O'Sullivan in 1933. This is a joyful book, full of the energy, enthusiasm, and high spirits of a young lad growing up on Great Blasket Island. As he says at one point,

An egg would not have broken under my feet with the lightness and gladness in my heart."

Just reading this book gives me a little of that same feeling! Whether he was off with a friend hunting puffins and rabbits around the island, exploring a cave, or describing the villager's excitement at scavenging timbers and supplies from a shipwreck, he always seemed to have a sense of optimism and joy.

Of course, the adults on the island didn't always share this happy view. In one conversation, Maurice tells his grandfather than the fishermen seem to have a fine, healthy life, and "there's no man on earth as contented as a seaman". In reply, his grandfather says "a man of the sea never had a good life, as I know well, having spent my days on it."

I visited Great Blasket Island after reading this book, and saw the whole scene through those youthful, exuberant eyes. As we walked around the island, and climbed to remnants of the Napoleonic fort at the top, I couldn't help but think of the fun he and the other kids had there, and it seemed like a fine place to grow up.

Twenty Years A-Growing was originally written in Irish, then translated to English. According to the Introductory Note (also from 1933), the author was mainly concerned with the Irish version, so that it would be read by people in the Blaskets, who would appreciate it more than we ever could. It's a sad irony that a mere 20 years later, there would be no one left in the Blaskets at all.

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And what of life for the adults? What was this isolated island life really like, for those who had to worry about feeding a family? Blasket Memories: The Life of an Irish Island Community explains a lot more about that. Published in 1982, this is a collection of manuscripts and interviews compiled by Padraig Tyers, with the goal of preserving as much of the island knowledge as possible before it disappeared.

He covers the history of the islands from early settlers (who had no boats, since there was no good landing place), until the days when they were finally evacuated. In between, much of the life was tied to nayvogues (called curraghs in the O'Sullivan book). These are small open boats, light enough you could carry them up onto the shore. The three miles to the coast of Ireland would seem like much more if you had to row it in such a seemingly fragile boat. Now imagine taking a cow to market in a nayvogue like this... (!)

The men did a lot of fishing for mackerel and lobster, and the women worked hard too, carrying loads of seaweed to the fields, and gathering turf for their fires. As the author put it,

Any man who had a good wife had a good workhorse. The man lucky enough to have such a wife was much envied. One fellow would remark to another: 'What a woman he got'."

The isolation and the sea posed many difficulties. For instance, if a woman was having difficulties in childbirth, they would send four of their strongest men to carry a nayvogue down to the water, row to the mainland, ride a horse to Dingle to fetch the doctor, and then all row back out to the island, no matter how treacherous the sea conditions. If the child was born OK during that period, the islanders would light a fire, so that the returning oarsmen would get the signal that they could slow down and ease up on the way back.

This book continues right up to the end, interviewing one of the very last people to pack up and leave the Blasket Islands, late 1953. He recalls the loneliness of closing the door the last time, knowing he'd not be back. He also acknowledges how much simpler things became after moving to the mainland. "I can go for a doctor or priest on my own, and not bother with anyone else."

This comes full circle as the book wraps up with an interview with the widow of Maurice O'Sullivan (Muiris O Suilleabhain). She paid one last visit to the island after Maurice died.

The place looked terrible, all the houses fallen down except a few at the top of the village, nothing to be seen, no welcome for anyone at a door or on a hill, or on a cliff, nothing but the seagulls. There's no doubt the seagulls have it to themselves at last."

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Our Ireland trips for women include a visit to Great Blasket Island, and it's lovely. If you're planning a vacation in Ireland, this is a wonderful place to include, and these books will give you a much greater sense of the place.  Even if you never expect to step foot on the island yourself, they give a fascinating window onto this vanished life.
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Related posts:

1. Ireland - Killarney carriage ride
2. Ireland: Beehive huts of ancient monks
3. Ireland says NO to EU

Those are pretty common questions.  A lot of women wonder if this could be for them, but they're uncertain about who else would be along.  Who goes on these women-only trips, anyway? A new article on Connections for Women has the whole scoop.

C4W is a relatively new site, and you can see why it's getting so popular! It's free to register and have access to all the resources, so it's worthwhile checking it out. They have a broad array of articles for women, everything from finances to fitness, and mental health to the Mediterranean. Oh yeah, travel... that's where we came in!

Solo travelers find such groups ideal. It’s easier, safer, and more fun, than going alone. The number of adult women in the US who are single is now greater than the number that are married, for the first time in history. Many of these women want to travel, and why let the lack of a husband stop you?

Of course you could go by yourself, but a lot of women don’t feel comfortable, or don’t enjoy, traveling alone. And if you burst out laughing when you’re dining at a table for one, others in the restaurant may look at you oddly!"

Find the rest of the article at:

* Women's travel - Who does this? (article link, requires registration)
* Connections for Women (home page, you can sign up here)

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This is one of the most common areas of uncertainty for people new to our women-only travel tours. If you've ever wondered who goes on tours like this, or if you'd fit in, this article could help you out!
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Related posts:

1. Why we travel, and old-world travel advice
2. Women wore flashy shoes 27,500 years ago?
3. Air travel better than ever?

Captain Kidd is one of the most famous pirates of all time. But perhaps the true story is different. The well-researched book The Pirate Hunter makes a convincing case that Kidd was one of the good guys -- in fact a pirate hunter, rather than a true pirate himself. Whatever the truth, he came to an unfortunate end, executed in London in 1699.

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We’ll be heading out on another British Virgin Islands sailing trip in January. The area we sail was a popular spot for pirates, centuries ago. Whenever I run across something interesting and related, I'll post it in our BVI category.
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Related posts:

1. Pirate myths and truths
2. Coral reefs and Coppertone don't mix
3. Photo: Sailing away in the BVI

It's enlightening to see how much difference one person can make. He didn't do it all by himself, but nobody can deny that he was a major force for change. Napa and California (and possibly all of the US wine industry) would not be what it is now without Robert Mondavi. And to think he started his own winery at the age of 52, after being kicked out of the family business. (Yes, all the stories are told in the book!) There's no such thing as starting too late! It certainly gives ME hope.

If you're thinking of visiting Napa, it's also fun to read about how Napa was a few decades ago. My, how things have changed. Not the sleepy little farm towns anymore.

The other thing I find inspiring is the spirit. He shows his hard-driving business side, and admits that had some serious impacts on his family and those around him. But there's a level of joy throughout, too. How many business owners view their endeavors as "harvests of joy"? I love it!

Recommended for:
- Anyone who wants to follow their dream,
- People visiting Napa Valley.

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We do a Napa Valley tour for women each fall at harvest season. It's a stunning place - beautiful and sophisticated. Funny to think how different it was, not so long ago...

Related posts:

1. Mud baths and mine squatters
2. Photo: Napa Valley, vine-covered winery
3. San Francisco - home again