So you walk that way, I'll walk this way

*It's Char - we are each doing a post since we went separate ways for a few weeks, enjoy! And another Bright Eyes reference for this week's title*

Days 158-176 (Monday, January 6^th – Friday, January 24^th)

So I dropped Karol off at Nyn Acres in Red Hill, New Mexico and stayed the first night there with him. Shannyn is super friendly and the next morning I tagged along for the quick rundown of the animal feeding Karol would be doing daily. Then I hit the road, planning to hike for 3 days in the Gila National Forest about 3-4 hours south of Red Hill.

New Mexico is... something...something good

I got to Silver City, NM where I planned to sleep in the car and then leave in the morning to start the hike. After having Henry help me over the phone make sure I had everything I needed in my pack and make sure it wasn't too much, etc., I looked up my loop trail and felt like a dang fool. Somehow I missed the fact that I'd have to wade through several river crossings. I already knew it was going to be freezing cold, and now it felt like a terrible idea. I talked to Karol on the phone also and when he told Shannyn where I was planning to hike she was pretty surprised, since she was aware of just how cold it got there. I was disheartened and really felt like maybe I shouldn't do it.

So... I left. I started thinking about visiting my sister in Houston, and also I asked myself if I could go anywhere where would I want to go? Well, the answer was Virginia. I love it there and while I waited to hear from Henry if it was cool that I come back (again, time number 3 I think?) I drove to Houston to see my seeeeeeester.

So I arrived that night and got to my see my hermana : ) The next day she worked and I got to relax and get some alone time which was much needed. The following day she had off and we had an amazing day. She took me to a meditation chapel, to lunch at the Hobbit Cafe, and then we went to a dog park...without dogs...cause we're creepers.

A community garden near the meditation chapel

The Hobbit Cafe! We had shrimp egg rolls, fish tacos, and a boudin burger soooooo good

Val drying her face at the park restroom near where we were creepin' on puppers

DOGS! We managed to not steal any somehow

Then I started my 2 day drive to Virginia.

I think one of my favorite places to drive, Louisiana, I love driving through the marshes

I honestly forget where this was exactly, but I love me some bridges

I met Rick at an Atlanta rest stop, my life is more complete now

Then I was in Virginia again. 

I mean... yeah, just a part of why I wanted to come back

When I arrived his mom was cooking a delicious dinner - something with shrimp that I believe was from one of her Louisiana cookbooks. So fucking good.

The first morning I was there I went with Henry to his friends' house (John and Jade) where he was feeding their animals while they were out of town - here he is petting Red into submission hahaha

That'll do, pigs

I think the first or second night we made some bangin' cajun cheesesteaks. Another day we were out and went to Hilltop Winery, Blue Mountain Brewery for some wings, King's Popcorn (I'm obsessed), and Tuck and Ollie's (the new restaurant that opened since the seafood place Henry likes closed down). It was a pretty sweet day, driving around to all those places and listening to music.

At one point we had chinese food for dinner and encountered the most sexist fortune ever

I went for a hike by myself nearby at Crabtree Falls. Lots of waterfalls, some water still frozen which was gorgeous. I ended up doing about 5 1/2 miles (may or may not have looked at a map that was just wrong...so yeah, hiked in the dark a little, haha). After my hike I saw Henry had texted me (had no service on the trail) letting me know he was at John and Jade's which was on the way back to his place, so I swung by there to hang out for a little.

Aguaaaaaaaa

Frozen Aguaaaaaaaa

More frozen water, really nice

The view at the Upper Falls

The next day we went back to John and Jade's to help them set up for a party they were having that night. We had a great time at the party and I imagine we went back and watched a movie after that (we watched a lot of movies hahaha -  it was awesome). Everyone should go see Split with James McAvoy, holy shit. Absolutely amazing movie.

A few days later, I think it was (sorry, I did not keep a day to day rundown of what we did), we went to see Henry's friend who ended up not being home...thus the below picture happened, one of my favorites. 

"Fuck you you're not home I'm in your boat!" - his friend liked it so much it's also on Facebook hahahaha

Henry hurt his shoulder/back while fixing the headlight in our car, so the day I planned to leave he was in agony. I ended up staying one more day just in case he would need help with anything, not being able to move much and all, and also because I really wasn't prepared to leave, I never really packed or got anything ready. Can't really help it, I hate to go, every time. Thanks to Henry and his mama for having me for like the millionth time.

I think this was my tentative last night, before I decided to stay the extra day -  we killed some vodka like champs, and god damnit I miss Dagen (is he dapping?! =k) (you too, Henry : p)

I left the next day by noon, and drove 12 hours each of the first two days back to New Mexico. I really am adjusted to driving a lot, it wasn't too bad at all.

This was on I-40 going west I think out of Amarillo, TX - I was surrounded by wind turbines and they were all blinking red at the same time... it was crazy, and it was even blinking to the beat of a song I was listening to so it was even more surreal. GIF doesn't do it justice.

On the third day I stopped at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque before I got to the farm Karol was at. A few pics below:

Hoooooray

It was a very short trail to the top of this small-ish little mountain, but the view was still amazing

Petroglyphs on the way up

View 1

View 2

Then I got to Karol! He looked like a crazy mountain man with his long ass beard and dirty face. It was adorable. His voice was even raspy I think from the cold. Now we are back together again and Karol's post will have what we've done since I picked him up!

View from Nyn Acres, the dome Karol was staying in on the left - elevation around 7500, it feels like you are living in the sky