Ted and I are back in New Mexico today. Can you believe that, after waiting so many years to check New Mexico off our “states visited” list, we’ve been in the state twice on the same road trip?!
On our drive to Taos, NM today, Ted and I drove over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. There’s a parking lot at one end of the bridge, sidewalks along both sides of the highway, and an overview area on each side in the center of the bridge. We parked and headed for the overview areas. Ooops! As soon as the bridge left solid land and went over the gorge, my knees felt weak and I had to focus on looking at the sidewalk and the road–I couldn’t look down, because the gorge is so deep. I stood with my back to the view and checked out the more distant view across the bridge. Ted had to take the pictures again, just like at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
Keep in mind that Ted couldn’t get the top and the bottom of the gorge into the same picture. Also, it’s always a lot farther to the bottom than a photo makes it appear. This gorge was very deep–800 feet.
When we arrived in Taos, the first thing we noticed was the traffic. A two-lane highway runs through the city and it was clogged in both directions. We picked a place to eat based on the large number of cars parked in front, and had a nice lunch. Then we put our car in a public parking lot and set out on foot to explore this colorful and quaint town that seems to epitomize the architecture of the Southwest. Taos is a popular skiing destination and also a cultural center. The streets are lined with art galleries.
This is the city square. It is surrounded by adobe shops, of course and, like all city squares, traffic goes one way around it.
Here’s a little corner of shops in the historic district of downtown Taos.
I found an unusual interpretation of the pictographs on the hand dryer in a rest room.
This guy seems to have a permanent parking spot on the main street of Taos. Honk if you agree.
The weather was very nice, so Ted and I stopped at a cafe in the historic district and enjoyed an afternoon snack outdoors.
What a lovely surprise at the end of the afternoon when we checked into our hotel. Ted finds hotels through his AAA travel books and through Google, so we’re never sure exactly what they will be like, except that they’re clean and have basic amenities. Sometimes we find out the hotel is geared toward hunters (signs advising guests not to clean game in the room), and sometimes they’re more luxurious than we expected. Our Taos hotel is 0.4 miles from downtown–walking distance–and encompasses nine acres! It’s very Southwestern in style and has beautiful grounds and luxurious rooms. We have a jet tub and a fireplace in our room, and there’s not a game-cleaning rag in sight.
This is the view toward the entrance where the valet met us.
Guest rooms are clustered in small buildings scattered all around the property. Here are some rooms with a view of the Secret Circle of plantings and water features.
This is a view of the section of the grounds called the Mountain Green.
We had hoped to visit the Taos Pueblo today, but it is closed for a ceremony. The Pueblo is an inhabited, active community, and people in town told us that, yes, every now and then they close for some private event. They are re-opening at 8:00 tomorrow morning, so we’re going to stop on our way to Pueblo, CO.