The Tyuonyi cliff and cave dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo are a site to behold. I’m going to break up the visit across two entries, as the second part involved getting over a fear of heights.

The Ancestral Pueblo people lived here from approximately 1150 CE to 1550 CE. They built homes carved from the volcanic tuff and planted crops in mesa top fields. The people of Cochiti Pueblo, located just south and east along the Rio Grande, are the most direct descendants of the Ancestral Pueblo people who built homes in Frijoles Canyon.

Every space had its purpose, from the kivas and structures on the grounded portion of the settlement…

…to the reconstructed and preserved cliff portions. This is one of the only dwellings I’ve encountered where there was laddered access to the interior rooms.

The beauty of Pueblo architecture is the result of functional necessity and impermanence as they eventually migrated to other parts of the canyon due to environmental shifts. It’s a lesson for anyone experiencing a transition to or new season in life.

Meow Wolf is a multi-sensory, non-linear experiential exhibit space with locations around the country. You are greeted by a giant robot, wolf, and spider in the parking lot. Entering the front doors is like stepping into a fever dream of Neil Gaiman and Takashi Murakami. There is a trippy lounge with projected wall art and an intergalactic gift shop where you can bring a bit of psychedelia home for time-dilated remembrance.

I was going to see The House of Eternal Return. It was reminded me of favorite paranormal suspense stories like Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, and Oxen Free.

It starts with a relatively grounded premise and location before launching into the otherworldly. A fundamental to reality architecture is giving the audience a space of familiarity, or “house”, to echo back to. In repetition one begins to map themselves subconsciously to the characters, progressively empathizing to the narrative’s conclusion. Whatever storytelling genre you choose is the tonal preference of the mapped experience once the “house” is established.

Entering into the southwest was a pleasant change in scenery. The open deserts started populating with dense shrubbery, deeper red soil, and pueblo-style dwellings.

I’ve been staying in a variety of spaces: hotels, extended family’s homes, and camping under the stars. This time I wanted to find an Airbnb with someone who knew the area. I ended up at a local artist’s residence and studio. He recommended several galleries, museums, and hiking spots, and reminisced over his time painting backgrounds and set pieces for theatrical plays over 4 decades.

In a new region or city I often have 3 top places to visit, and find an increasing joy allowing interactions lead to deeper exploration. That’s how the locations grew from a personal note of 25 to 600 pins on a digital map. People and experiences are at their greatest value before conversion to a statistic. It’s what we count on first and remember last.

Perched on a bluff in Sante Fe Community College campus is Ethyl The Whale, the Guinness World Records largest recycled plastic sculpture on the planet:

Commissioned by the Monterey Bay Aquarium on the California coast, the 82 ft sculpture was designed by artists Joel Stockdill and Yustina Salnikova, then built over a six-month span with aid from over 50 artists and volunteers. Purchased by Meow Wolf, Ethyl was disassembled and driven 1,080 miles to New Mexico, where she’s become a powerful teaching tool for students.

Impressive feat. I am an advocate and have worked on initiatives for alternative materials in products and packaging. In all cases it required a team spanning several disciplines. Like Ethyl, memorable solutions require a re-imagining of the variables, leading to a new format, which redefines the shape it occupies.

On Linwood Blvd east of OKC Fairgrounds is a little business (Don’t Stress Meowt) that brings together two positive and pleasantly juxtaposed themes: coffee and animal adoption.

Our hope for the cafe is to foster a love of animals and others, while giving the community a safe space where all are welcome to come, have fun, and save lives.

The concept is akin to specialty cafes in Japan, and builds on them with uplifting cause. There is a wall that features all the successes they’ve had in the past, along with an area where you can interact with the felines while they play. You can read about the founding couple’s life/work rubric that resulted in the idea here.

We each embody a set of passions and principles. Growing them with others is finding home wherever we live.

Downtown Oklamahoma City has a giant cylindrical conservatory built in the middle of the Myriad Botanical Gardens, straddling over a pond filled with koi fish and ducks.

What’s striking is not only how large the structure is, but how low the clearance on the walkway underneath. You can hop up and brush the metal form with your fingertips while navigating to the stairs on the opposite side. Of course I did, haha. I could not resist.

What’s the appeal of reaching out to touch something created or natural unusual to everyday life? There is an instinctive inclination we have from childhood to do this. It’s a reason why there are signs in museums and public areas that say “don’t not touch”, or “touch this”. Hmmm…something to that…

In Dallas I caught up with a friend who has made his life’s purpose quietly helping others around the world. As we were discussing the process of growth and creativity, I shared my focus on stillness from the beginning of the journey. It’s helped in the appreciation of small details that people and places hold. One example would be the peculiarly sweet smell of rain in the high desert after a thundershower.

He thought a bit and asked me if I heard of an author named Edgar Morin. He brought a book out of his bag and pointed to previously highlighted lines on a page:

I’ve been thinking about the “Method” as The “Path, Way, and Walk”, since then. It also had me considering the Mandalorians and Benedictine Monks and how they’ve adapted a similar “Way”.

I’ve always been a fan of Jack White’s music, but didn’t know about his love of baseball until I wondered into Warstic. (thanks Brandon)

Jack is co-owner of the bat and apparel company, with the flagship store in the heart of Deep Ellum. In the back of the facility you can purchase a billet of maple or birch wood and have it spun up on the lathe to create a “war stick” of your choosing.

It’s fun learning about other’s pocketed interests beyond what they are commonly known for. And it’s a surprising gift when they share it back with the broader community.

San Jacinto Monument is the tallest masonary column in the world. At 567ft high, it tops the height of the Washington Monument in DC.

There is a single elevator you can ride to the observation deck for a panorama of the Houston skyline hundreds of miles around. It provides a clear eyeline to the oil, seafood, and cruise vessels important to the economy of the city.

New view, new perspective.

Crystal Bridges is one of the most engaging organic gallery spaces I’ve experienced. Both this and the satellite location Momentary are within 10 minutes of one another and take a day to explore. It’s well worth the visit.

Designed by Moshe Safdie, the mission of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is to welcome all to celebrate the American spirit in a setting that unites the power of art with the beauty of nature. Founded by philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton, Crystal Bridges is a public non-profit charitable organization.

The Momentary differs in multi-function as a performing arts venue, residency center, as well as a space to host rotating exhibits with broader narratives. I appreciate The Momentary’s extension into the community it is a part of. Art is as powerful as the people it dialogues with.

Formerly a decommissioned cheese factory, it is now a multidisciplinary space for visual arts, performing arts, culinary experiences, festivals, and artists-in-residence offering dynamic programs and experiences.

Following the recommendation of a close friend, I spent a week in Bentonville. I stopped by Walton’s 5 & 10, Store #1, Wal-Mart Innovation Lab, and the Museum Heritage Lab, having a 2 hour conversation with knowledgeable employees at the front desk. I wanted to understand the deeper story of how Sam Walton imagined and scaled a half-trillion dollar framework and supply chain from brick-and-mortar ideas in a small town.

At the heart of the achievement are “10 Rules For Building A Business” posted at the entrance of the Heritage Lab. The humble, value-centered axioms are easy to understand, yet challenging to stay consistent with, as they require an unselfish honesty without reproach.

Of all the rules, 1 and 10 resonate with me most. Rules 2-9 are the compounding result of executing against them over time.

Northwest of Eureka Springs is an architecturally striking monument created by E Fay Jones.

Thorncrown Chapel rises forty-eight feet into the Ozark sky. This magnificent wooden structure contains 425 windows and over 6,000 square feet of glass. It sits atop more than 100 tons of native stone and colored flagstone, making it blend perfectly with its setting. The chapel's simple design and majestic beauty combine to make it what critics have called ‘one of the finest religious spaces of modern times.’

The guide at the location informed everyone that all major elements are symmetrical, except the structure behind the altar in the forest outside. It is set slighty to the right to represent off-centeredness when attempting to navigate life’s challenges separate from the whole. Interesting metaphor.