Au revoir Santa Fe

This is my last full day in Santa Fe, for the summer at least. I woke up this morning and it was pouring rain. I mean POURING. So unusual here!! I still wanted to hike of course because at the very least I thought it would be good preparation for UK hiking weather. So I phoned Dave and asked him if he was still on and he said definitely. Turned out we were the only hardy souls but it was soooo worth it! Here are two photos--it's hard to believe this is desert, isn't it? 

Dave admiring the silvery raindrops on the pine branches. 
 

Me beside the Big Tesuque River at full flow 
 

We hiked for two hours, only stopping now and again. My pedometer registered 12000 steps by the time we returned to the car. I've written so much in the past months about how much I loved hiking so I won't repeat myself. But I realized this morning that a lot of why I loved to hike so much here were the people in this group. They are so friendly, so welcoming that I looked forward to each week's hike not merely just to get exercise but to catch up with my friends again. I contrast that to so many groups that I tried to belong to in the many other cities/towns I've lived in these past 11 years. Oh, they were pleasant enough but they didn't satisfy my soul the way that this did. Even SparkPeople isn't as soul nourishing. Meaning no disrespect but there really IS something special when you find a group of people "real time" who are physically "there" for you. 

Of course, the next best thing IS a cyber group because, of course, when you're a nomad as I am, cyber groups are usually there--at least some members are.