Hannah still has to work from home, but home is where the heart is. In a moment of logical inspiration I put these two ideas together! "I know you're working from home," I told her, "but does it have to be our home?" "What are you saying?" she demanded. I quickly rephrased: "Why don't we decamp somewhere a bit more habitable than Houston?!"
So we did. Bidding an unfond farewell to heat and humidity we made a beeline for the nearest mountains, where we've found a cabin 7,000ft up with Internet access. While Hannah keeps the wheels of American industry turning, Pete and I can actually spend time outside.
Unfortunately, the beeline to the nearest mountains is a 12-hour drive, all the way across Texas to New Mexico. Not all the way across in fact, as directly south from us is still Texas! The state is monstrously big, in a way I'd always been told but never experienced. It's also flat, and for all its oil-loving it has some of the largest wind farms in the world. We did the whole thing in a day, and many games of "I Spy" were played.
But here we are, in the small town of Ruidoso, NM, still isolating but now able to do so comfortably. The place is a ski resort, which means it's deserted in the summer, and our cabin backs onto 30 miles of trails. If we do meet anyone out and about, the new hiking etiquette is to pull your mask up and nod responsibly as you pass at the greatest distance possible before pulling it back down and breathing in the fresh pine air once again.
It's all wonderful, and I'm not even missing my cappuccino machine that much (everything else from home was compressed into the car, breaking many safety rules). I've long considered myself a happy city dweller - a strange revelation for a boy from Somerset - but a few more weeks up here and I might go full mountain-man. That's not a Sasquatch you spotted, it's me.
Outside, smiling, no sweat.
Training at altitude builds strength!
Going up a mountain.
Choices!
A quick pic above 10,000ft...shortly before a storm rolled in and soaked us.
This is the kind of info I need before hiking with a 7-yr-old.
Pete gets into the mountain man mindset too.
A quick dip in the lake (conclusion: too cold).
Another day, another hike.
Someone like us! A Texas horned lizard - spiky, and keen to social distance.
Hiking is mostly about the snacking.
Wild horses up on the mesa.
A visitor to our cabin.
No, Hannah is not cooking the visitor (shame).
Another local!
New hiking couture.
There's a storm coming.
