 In 1926, the Strands traveled to the west, visiting Mesa Verde National Park and cities including Denver, Santa Fe, and Taos.They had considered a European trip instead, but as Rebecca wrote to Paul, “Europe will still be there when we are middle-aged—we can still enjoy it—the West we should really see while we are young and sturdy—and that won’t last always.”  Strand enjoyed the southwest, and Mabel Dodge Luhan’s hospitality, so much that she wrote to Stieglitz and O’Keeffe, “She’s been so lovely … why she has been so kind to us we do not know.Except that she probably is to everybody.